As our understanding of the pathogenesis of cancers grows and new treatment modalities become available, so too does the number of key research questions in oncology that need answering. Frontiers in Oncology is working with members of our Editorial Board to tackle some of these key questions through Editor’s Challenges, each of which poses a key question in the oncology field.

We are delighted to present this Editor’s Challenge, led by Dr. Qingxin Mu, and in collaboration with Dr. Marina Pinheiro, asking how nanomedicine can advance combination cancer therapy

The role of nanomedicine in combination therapy

Multi-target combination therapies represent a cornerstone of cancer therapy to overcome drug resistance and alleviate drug toxicity in clinical and preclinical manifestations. However, the development of combination treatments is challenging, partly due to the profound drug interactions and distinct pharmacokinetics of combination regimens. The disparate physicochemical properties of therapeutic agents or modalities and heterogeneity of cellular/molecular targets further complicate the combination therapeutic delivery applications. Therefore, considerable research efforts are focused on the design and investigation of pharmaceutically feasible multi-target combination therapy approaches to generate pharmacologically favorable and safe outcomes.

The application of nanotechnology for medical purposes (nanomedicine) is one of the most promising cancer diagnosis and treatment strategies. Nanotechnology has proven to selectively target cancerous cells, and enhance therapeutic efficacy while providing multiple functionalities (e.g., imaging). As the clinical outcome of nanomedicine approaches depends on several factors, including nanoparticles’ ability to cross various biological barriers and access target sites of action, the ability to load and release multiple agents in a controllable manner, and their safety profile, more investigations are necessary to fully address their potential to improve combination therapy in cancer.

This Editor’s Challenge Research Topic invites manuscripts exploring the role of nanomedicine and nanotechnology in promoting multi-targeting strategies in combination cancer therapy.

Specific research areas of interest may include, but are not limited to:
- Nanomedicine or nanotechnology approaches for improvement of combination chemotherapy with multiple molecular targets;
- Nanotechnology-enabled multi-modal combination therapy (e.g., chemo-immuno, chemo-radio, photo-immuno, etc.);
- Nanomedicine or nanotechnology approaches for enhanced targeting of multiple cells/tissues/organs of interest;
- Nanoparticles with multiple targeting mechanisms for enhanced cancer therapy;
- Nanoparticles as biologically active agents and their combination with standard of care.

Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section and will not be accepted as part of this Research Topic.

Other collections in our Editor's Challenge series:

Editor's Challenge: Claudio Cerchione - Is it Time for a Targeted Therapy in Multiple Myeloma?

Editor's Challenge: Abhishek Mahajan - How Can Precision Oncology be Advanced with Validated Imaging-Based Nomograms?

Editor's Challenge: Mohamed Rahouma - How Can We Optimize the Management and Treatment of Cardiac Tumors and Cardiac Complications of Cancer?

Editor's Challenge: Dr. Luciano Mutti - What Is the True Impact of ICIs on Survival in the Treatment of Thoracic Malignancies?

Editor's Challenge: Walter Storkus - Sexual Dimorphism and the Host Immune Response to Renal Cell Carcinoma

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