Background:
Gastrointestinal (GI) solid tumor cancers consist of cancers of various organs including colorectal, liver, pancreas, gastric, and esophagus. GI cancers are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and there is severe unmet medical need for therapies to treat them. Treatment modalities currently include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and certain targeted therapies that are modest at best. Recently, many therapies targeting the immune system has been successful and was awarded the 2018 noble prize in physiology or medicine. Their research elucidating the role of immune regulation in cancer has certainly increased the focus on immunotherapies to treat this deadly disease. Immunotherapies include activation of the patient immune system to target and treat cancers. Various cancer immunotherapies include monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, and other non-specific immunotherapies. GI solid tumor cancer is complex and provides an unique opportunity to device novel immunotherapies.
Goal:
The goal of this special issue is to publish novel research on immunotherapies that lead to the treatment of GI cancers. Immune therapies to lung, melanoma, and multiple myeloma has been successful in the clinics, however, GI cancer presents as a challenge due to its desmoplasia and other immune checkpoints. Pancreatic cancer in particular has been regarded as cold tumors in terms of immune modulation, it has hostile tumor microenvironment and is one of the difficult cancers to be treated. Patients with pancreatic cancer have less than 10% chances for a 5-year survival. As mounting evidences suggest that GI cancers arise from the stem cells and targeting these tumor initiating cells through immune therapies does represent a novel field of exciting research. Currently, there are very few immunotherapies that are used in the treatment of GI cancers especially ones that targeting the tumor initiating cells.
Scope and information for Authors:
A Research Topic with approaches ranging from physiology of immune modulation to treatments may significantly contribute to shed light on the immunotherapies to treat GI cancers.
Authors are welcome to submit original articles and reviews that seek to better characterize the effects of altering immune system to treat GI cancers. Contributions investigating the effect of immunotherapies at the molecular and cellular level, as well as clinical trials, are also welcome.
Some potential themes of interest for this Research Topic:
• Advances in CAR-T cell therapies to treat GI/liver cancers
• Advances in Cancer Vaccines to treat GI cancers
• Novel strategies to target checkpoint inhibitors
• Immunotherapies targeting cancer stem cells or tumor initiating cells
• NK cells-based therapy for GI/liver cancer
**
Dr. Golubovskaya is the director at Promab Biotechnologies.
Background:
Gastrointestinal (GI) solid tumor cancers consist of cancers of various organs including colorectal, liver, pancreas, gastric, and esophagus. GI cancers are the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and there is severe unmet medical need for therapies to treat them. Treatment modalities currently include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and certain targeted therapies that are modest at best. Recently, many therapies targeting the immune system has been successful and was awarded the 2018 noble prize in physiology or medicine. Their research elucidating the role of immune regulation in cancer has certainly increased the focus on immunotherapies to treat this deadly disease. Immunotherapies include activation of the patient immune system to target and treat cancers. Various cancer immunotherapies include monoclonal antibodies, cancer vaccines, Immune checkpoint inhibitors, and other non-specific immunotherapies. GI solid tumor cancer is complex and provides an unique opportunity to device novel immunotherapies.
Goal:
The goal of this special issue is to publish novel research on immunotherapies that lead to the treatment of GI cancers. Immune therapies to lung, melanoma, and multiple myeloma has been successful in the clinics, however, GI cancer presents as a challenge due to its desmoplasia and other immune checkpoints. Pancreatic cancer in particular has been regarded as cold tumors in terms of immune modulation, it has hostile tumor microenvironment and is one of the difficult cancers to be treated. Patients with pancreatic cancer have less than 10% chances for a 5-year survival. As mounting evidences suggest that GI cancers arise from the stem cells and targeting these tumor initiating cells through immune therapies does represent a novel field of exciting research. Currently, there are very few immunotherapies that are used in the treatment of GI cancers especially ones that targeting the tumor initiating cells.
Scope and information for Authors:
A Research Topic with approaches ranging from physiology of immune modulation to treatments may significantly contribute to shed light on the immunotherapies to treat GI cancers.
Authors are welcome to submit original articles and reviews that seek to better characterize the effects of altering immune system to treat GI cancers. Contributions investigating the effect of immunotherapies at the molecular and cellular level, as well as clinical trials, are also welcome.
Some potential themes of interest for this Research Topic:
• Advances in CAR-T cell therapies to treat GI/liver cancers
• Advances in Cancer Vaccines to treat GI cancers
• Novel strategies to target checkpoint inhibitors
• Immunotherapies targeting cancer stem cells or tumor initiating cells
• NK cells-based therapy for GI/liver cancer
**
Dr. Golubovskaya is the director at Promab Biotechnologies.