The Role of Bcl-2 Family Proteins in Cancer
A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Tumor Microenvironment".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 165
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cell death pathways; apoptosis; cancer; drug discovery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Proteins belonging to the Bcl-2 family are involved in cell survival, tumour development and response to therapy through their effect on tumour cells and the tumour microenvironment. Thus, the identification of small molecules able to alter their expression or function represents a major challenge for cancer therapy. In 2016, the Food and Drug Administration approved the Bcl-2-specific inhibitor Venclexta for the treatment of patients with some kinds of leukaemia, changing the landscape of systemic therapy for these patients. Approximately 570 trials, ongoing or recruiting cancer patients, document the relevance of this drug in cancer therapy. Unfortunately, despite the comprehension of the relevance of Bcl-2 family members in several kinds of solid cancer, further preclinical/clinical studies are necessary before Bcl-2 family inhibitors can enter into the clinical practice for this class of tumours.
This Special Issue aims to host expert reviews or studies performed in vitro or in animal models investigating the impact of Bcl-2 family proteins in cancer progression and/or response to therapy, as well as the molecular mechanisms and pathways involved in these phenomena. Findings from clinical trials using inhibitors of this family are also welcome. Of note, this Special Issue also invites researchers to share negative findings, which will help other scientists to avoid performing unnecessary experiments.
The collection of basic, translational, and clinical studies on this Special Issue could support the development of novel ideas and lead to new research directions, with the final scope of the proper design of future clinical trials in both haematological and solid malignancies, or the development of “personalized medicine”—an innovative approach in which therapy is adapted to the individual patient more than to the tumour histotype.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Daniela Trisciuoglio
Dr. Donatella Del Bufalo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- cancer
- tumour
- drug resistance
- animal models
- in vitro models
- BH3 mimetics
- Bcl-2 family inhibitors
- Bcl-2
- Bcl-xL
- Mcl-1
