About this Research Topic

Background

In 2018, there were an estimated 1.25 million newly-diagnosed gynecologic malignancies cases around the world, with a severe impact on women’s health and a huge socio-economic burden. According to the tumor origin, gynecologic malignancies are mainly classified into ovarian cancer (epithelial, germ cell tumor, sexual-stromal tumor, and others), endometrial cancer, cervical cancer and several types of sarcomas (rare).

In the past decades, multimodal strategies consisting of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy were the main choices for these patients with gynecologic malignancies. Although many basic research studies and clinical trials were carried out, the efficacy of most tested compounds was unsatisfactory and patients’ survival did not improve as wished.

Several novel therapies have recently come to light, bringing new options for these patients. For example, PARP inhibitors have demonstrated outstanding efficacy in epithelial ovarian cancer patients, especially in those with BRCA mutations or homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). Moreover, antibodies targeting PD-1/PD-L1 worked better than routine drugs in advanced endometrial cancer with MSI-H. In addition to the innovation in new drugs, improved delivery systems (such as nanoparticles, liposomes, micelles, etc.) have the potential to enhance tumor cytotoxicity and avoid severe adverse effects, via precise tumor-targeting and controlled-release of the specific drugs as clinically needed.

This Research Topic aims to summarize the recent advances of targeted therapy in gynecologic malignancies. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Perspective and Opinion articles encompassing clinical, translational, and basic studies, focusing on but not limited to:

(1) Ex vivo, in vitro or in vivo-validated studies on emerging therapeutic targets for gynecologic malignancies, including immune checkpoints, oncogenes, tumor suppressor genes, noncoding RNAs (miRNA, lncRNA, piRNA), exosomes, key regulators of acetylation, methylation, and ubiquitination;
(2) Novel therapeutics including small molecules (such as angiogenesis inhibitors, PARP inhibitors, signal pathway inhibitors), antibodies (such as PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies), vaccines, as well as cell therapy (CAR-T and other gene-engineered cells);
(3) Efficacy evaluation of novel multimodal treatments;
(4) Novel drug delivery systems to achieve precise control of drug release at specific tissue sites and time points, including nanoparticles, micelles and other natural or artificial materials;
(5) Novel animal models to mimic the development and progression of gynecologic malignancies, which could provide an in vivo platform for the anti-cancer research.


Special Note for Authors: To be considered for publication, studies must demonstrate the applicability of anticancer modalities on a minimum of two well-authenticated cancer cell lines.

Studies consisting solely of in silico investigation without experimental or in situ validation to support conclusions are not in scope for this Research Topic.

Keywords: Gynecologic Malignancies, Precision Medicine, Targeted Therapy

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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