Two Decades of Targeted Therapies in Hematology: New Targets and Novel Combinations

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Background

The introduction of Gleevec in the clinical practice of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) marked a whole revolution in the medical field. For the first time, the medical community had a specific targeted therapy for the malignant cells that was able to eradicate them and prolong patient survival and quality of life. Over the past two decades extensive research from the scientific community lead to the introduction of other targeted therapies in other hematological malignancies that also impacted patient welfare. However, despite the considerable efforts in understanding disease biology, several of these pathologies still lack targeted therapeutic approaches with proven efficacy in the improvement of patient welfare, which includes for example, in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Myelodisplastic (MDS) and Myeloproliferative Syndromes (MPN) amongst others.

Unfortunately, for several pathologies diagnosed as a hematological malignancy, bone marrow transplantation remains the only curative option, which is perform under very limited conditions (age related complications in the elderly patients, scarce of donors, post-transplantation associated complications). Moreover, in several types of these conditions the current treatment strategies fail to present curative options and improve patient welfare. This research topic aims to increase the knowledge on the molecular pathways and networks that drive initiation and expansion of hematological malignancies and use such knowledge to specifically target such pathways. We aim to receive submission of manuscripts that address these questions and present novel and disruptive treatment strategies to tackle disease pathobiology in the context of hematological malignancies. Ultimately, this strategy will allow for the testing and development of novel treatment modalities in diseases where a clear clinical unmet need persists.

In this research topic we aim to potentiate the discovery novel treatment strategies for hematological malignancies (2016 WHO classification) that rely on the use of targeted therapies and its dissemination into the scientific community. We encourage the contributing authors to submit their original research, clinical trials, case reports and review articles. The authors should focus their manuscripts on in vitro, pre-clinical and clinical studies on the following subtopics:

- Cell-autonomous and microenvironmental molecular mechanisms that drive malignant transformation and expansion of hematopoietic progenitors

- Clinical, pre-clinical and in vitro studies testing novel molecular targets and/or innovative drug combinations in the context of hematological malignancies.

- Clinical, pre-clinical and in vitro studies testing standard chemotherapeutic agents with novel molecular drug targets.

Keywords: Hematological malignancies, Targeted therapies, signaling pathways, drug combinations, hematology

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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