Tumor Microenvironment in Colorectal Cancer (Volume 2)
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Oncology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 4832
Special Issue Editor
2. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cancer (CIBERONC), 28029 Madrid, Spain
Interests: tumor microenvironment; colorectal cancer; cancer-associated fibroblasts; exosomes; migration and invasion; tumor biomarkers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue follows the publication of the first volume “Tumor Microenvironment in Colorectal Cancer”, which presented nine papers.
Experimental studies and analyses of clinical material have convincingly demonstrated that colorectal cancer initiation, growth, and progression do not depend exclusively on cell-autonomous properties of cancer cells themselves but are also deeply influenced by the local microenvironment. The stromal elements of tumors consist of a variety of non-epithelial cell types and their interactions which involve reciprocal paracrine signaling, including growth factors, exosomes, and extracellular matrix components.
Extracellular matrix, blood vessels, immune cells, and fibroblasts are the main components of the tumor microenvironment. Fibroblasts are one of the most abundant and active cell types of the tumor microenvironment. Fibroblast-like cells, usually named as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), regulate many aspects of tumorigenesis and can exert tumor-suppressing and tumor-promoting effects, involving interactions between the malignant cells and other cells of the tumor microenvironment. Moreover, CAFs actively participate in extracellular matrix deposition and remodeling, which are also related to disease progression.
In addition, endothelial cells help tumor cells communicate with surrounding areas by generating new vascular networks or modifying pre-existing vessels, thus conditioning tumor oxygen and nutrient supply. Since endothelial cells, as well as CAFs and tumor cells, affect immune cell recruitment within the tumor, it can be assumed that the tumor microenvironment will condition immune response. T-cell activation can end up either stimulating or inhibiting the immune system, depending on many factors, such as tumor antigen production, the regulation of inhibitory ligands, angiogenesis, CAF chemokine secretion, etc.
This Special Issue will include papers that investigate the different mechanisms related to the tumor microenvironment involved in CRC initiation, growth, and progression. Furthermore, experimental clinical and preclinical studies including bimolecular experiments to examine potential new approaches for increasing and improving CRC patient survival are welcome.
This Special Issue welcomes original research and review papers. Potential topics will include, but are not limited to:
- Molecular mechanisms of the tumor microenvironment cross-talk in CRC;
- Epigenetic regulation of the tumor microenvironment in CRC;
- Molecular imaging approaches to study the tumor microenvironment in CRC;
- Tumor biomarkers related to the tumor microenvironment in CRC patients;
- “Omics” studies of tumor microenvironment components in CRC;
- Therapeutic approaches of CRC patients based in the tumor microenvironment target.
Dr. Cristina Peña
Guest Editor
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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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
- colorectal cancer
- tumor microenvironment
- cancer-associated fibroblasts
- endothelial cells
- immune cells
- extracellular matrix
- tumor microenvironment biomarkers
- tumor microenvironment-based clinical approaches
