Hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), gallbladder cancer, cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), are lethal malignancies. Traditional treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. Despite recent advancements in treatment strategies, the overall survival for patients with hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers remains unchanged. Patients with these malignancies do not present specific symptoms and most of the cases are diagnosed at advanced stages with local or distant metastasis, which further contributes to their poor prognosis.
Therefore, there is an unmet and urgent need to identify novel molecular biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis prediction and monitoring response towards therapy among patients with hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers. Besides conventional serological biomarkers, molecular biomarkers through genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and immunogenic analyses are warranted. Herein, recent findings on the biomarker value of non-coding RNAs such as lncRNA, circular RNA, miRNA and circulating DNA as well as their methylated and hydroxymethylated forms are also potential areas of research.
This Research Topic mainly calls for papers whose major focus is the identification of potential novel biomarkers at different levels of diagnosis, prognosis and/or therapy efficacy for hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers as well as understanding the relevant molecular mechanisms. Identification of molecular biomarkers for early-stage diagnosis and/or prediction of treatment response will aid in improving the survival and treatment efficacy of these patients. Additionally, methodological innovations in the identification methods of novel biomarkers, including innovative algorithms and laboratory methods in the context of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer, are also sought in the present Research Topic.
Areas of this topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Novel biomarkers, signature panels, pathways, or stratification networks capable of predicting prognosis and/or efficacy of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, or combination therapies
• Patients’ stratification based on characteristics of tumour microenvironment or specific cell populations
• Methodological innovations and computational algorithms for biomarker identification
• Molecular mechanism of non-coding RNAs in the progression of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers
• Therapeutic strategies by targeting non-coding RNAs in hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers
Hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), gallbladder cancer, cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), are lethal malignancies. Traditional treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. Despite recent advancements in treatment strategies, the overall survival for patients with hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers remains unchanged. Patients with these malignancies do not present specific symptoms and most of the cases are diagnosed at advanced stages with local or distant metastasis, which further contributes to their poor prognosis.
Therefore, there is an unmet and urgent need to identify novel molecular biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis prediction and monitoring response towards therapy among patients with hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers. Besides conventional serological biomarkers, molecular biomarkers through genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and immunogenic analyses are warranted. Herein, recent findings on the biomarker value of non-coding RNAs such as lncRNA, circular RNA, miRNA and circulating DNA as well as their methylated and hydroxymethylated forms are also potential areas of research.
This Research Topic mainly calls for papers whose major focus is the identification of potential novel biomarkers at different levels of diagnosis, prognosis and/or therapy efficacy for hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers as well as understanding the relevant molecular mechanisms. Identification of molecular biomarkers for early-stage diagnosis and/or prediction of treatment response will aid in improving the survival and treatment efficacy of these patients. Additionally, methodological innovations in the identification methods of novel biomarkers, including innovative algorithms and laboratory methods in the context of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer, are also sought in the present Research Topic.
Areas of this topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Novel biomarkers, signature panels, pathways, or stratification networks capable of predicting prognosis and/or efficacy of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, or combination therapies
• Patients’ stratification based on characteristics of tumour microenvironment or specific cell populations
• Methodological innovations and computational algorithms for biomarker identification
• Molecular mechanism of non-coding RNAs in the progression of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers
• Therapeutic strategies by targeting non-coding RNAs in hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancers
