The recent availability of high throughput next-generation sequencing, genome-wide microarrays, the emergence of interdisciplinary computational tools and relentless global collaborations have resulted in improved cancer diagnostics and therapy. Unfortunately, the incidence of hematological malignancies continues to rise and the underlying biological mechanisms of tumorgenesis, particularly at the time of inception, remain enigmatic. Diagnosis and treatment of hematological malignancies at a pre-cancerous level are often missed in clinics until these have progressed to overt symptomatic stages. This emphasizes the importance of identifying prudent biomarkers for diagnosing malignancy at a presymptomatic state and development of druggable targets for early treatment.
The newly emerging cell-free nucleic acids based molecular biomarkers and single cell genomics appear to be promising and the enormous genomic data being generated needs optimized algorithms for data mining and unified interpretations of clinically relevant variations.
Combinatorial regimens of chemotherapies and/or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation offer gratifying curative strategies for treating hematological malignancies, aiming at improved survival rates and better quality of life.
In this special issue of Frontiers in Oncology, we intend to collate key research findings with a focus on the theme of early diagnosis of hematological malignancies and invite contributions in form of reviews, original research articles, case reports, clinical trials etc. relating to any of the following:
• The spectrum of pre-cancerous stages of hematological malignancies and their transit from origin to progression,
• Genesis and evolution of cancer stem cells during progression,
• Identification of biomarkers for detection of malignancies at early presymptomatic stages and their response to treatment,
• Identification of novel drug targets and therapies for the early treatment of hematological malignancies,
• Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation - current progress and future perspectives,
• Digitization of nucleotide coded genomic data for uniform clinical reporting,
• Role of dissemination of knowledge, sharing of expertise through collaborations and networking beyond geographical boundaries.
The recent availability of high throughput next-generation sequencing, genome-wide microarrays, the emergence of interdisciplinary computational tools and relentless global collaborations have resulted in improved cancer diagnostics and therapy. Unfortunately, the incidence of hematological malignancies continues to rise and the underlying biological mechanisms of tumorgenesis, particularly at the time of inception, remain enigmatic. Diagnosis and treatment of hematological malignancies at a pre-cancerous level are often missed in clinics until these have progressed to overt symptomatic stages. This emphasizes the importance of identifying prudent biomarkers for diagnosing malignancy at a presymptomatic state and development of druggable targets for early treatment.
The newly emerging cell-free nucleic acids based molecular biomarkers and single cell genomics appear to be promising and the enormous genomic data being generated needs optimized algorithms for data mining and unified interpretations of clinically relevant variations.
Combinatorial regimens of chemotherapies and/or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation offer gratifying curative strategies for treating hematological malignancies, aiming at improved survival rates and better quality of life.
In this special issue of Frontiers in Oncology, we intend to collate key research findings with a focus on the theme of early diagnosis of hematological malignancies and invite contributions in form of reviews, original research articles, case reports, clinical trials etc. relating to any of the following:
• The spectrum of pre-cancerous stages of hematological malignancies and their transit from origin to progression,
• Genesis and evolution of cancer stem cells during progression,
• Identification of biomarkers for detection of malignancies at early presymptomatic stages and their response to treatment,
• Identification of novel drug targets and therapies for the early treatment of hematological malignancies,
• Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation - current progress and future perspectives,
• Digitization of nucleotide coded genomic data for uniform clinical reporting,
• Role of dissemination of knowledge, sharing of expertise through collaborations and networking beyond geographical boundaries.
