Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research
is calling for submissions to our Collection on 'Breaking cancer DRUG RESISTANCE: Looking for an interdisciplinary effort solving an unmet clinical need in oncology'.
Despite remarkable progress in cancer therapy which has prolonged patient survival, resistance to conventional, targeted therapy and immunotherapy remains a major challenge in oncology [1,2]. Cancer resistance is a multifactorial process involving intrinsic and acquired mechanisms which are governed by genetic and non-genetic determinants [3]. Cancer resistance involves different cell populations inside the tumor and their relationship with cells that compose the surrounding microenvironment [4,5,6]. The adaptability of cancer cells to diverse microenvironments and their plasticity leads to the onset of the impaired therapeutic responsiveness [7]. In this Collection we look for manuscripts highlighting genomic, epigenetic, microenvironmental, and system biology approaches toward novel therapeutic strategies overriding cancer resistance [8,9,10,11].
Area of investigations will be but not limited to:
1. Mechanisms underlying tumor cell plasticity and cancer drug resistance
2. Molecular and metabolic pathways inducing cancer drug resistance
3. Microenvironment and immune surveillance escape
4. Tumor heterogeneity and cancer drug resistance
5. Computational models and artificial intelligence in cancer drug resistance
6. Identification of biomarkers and therapeutic strategies to overcome adaptive resistance
7. Novel nano-drug delivery strategies to overcome cancer drug resistance
Keywords: Cancer drug resistance, Cell plasticity, Tumor heterogeneity, Tumor Microenvironment, Immune escape, Nano-drug delivery, Computational models, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning
References:
1. Vasan N. et al, A view on drug resistance in cancer. Nature 575,299-309.2019
2. Tufail M. et al, iScience vol.27.issue 61.2025
3. Zi-Ning Lei et al., Understanding and targeting resistance mechanisms in cancer. Med Comm 2023
4. França, G. S. et al. Cellular adaptation to cancer therapy along a resistance continuum. Nature 631, 876–883 (2024)
5. Goyal, Y. et al. Diverse clonal fates emerge upon drug treatment of homogeneous cancer cells. Nature 620, 651–659 (2023)
6. Obenauf, A. C. et al. Therapy-induced tumour secretomes promote resistance and tumour progression. Nature 520, 368–372 (2015)
7. Punzi S. et al., Early tolerance and late persistence as alternative drug responses in cancer. Nat.Comm.16.2025
8. Fabbri, L., Chakraborty, A., Robert, C. & Vagner, S. The plasticity of mRNA translation during cancer progression and therapy resistance. Nat. Rev. Cancer 21, 558–577 (2021)
9. Chang et al,Hallmarks of artificial intelligence contribution to precision oncology. Nat.Cancer
10. Coehlo et al., Base editing screening define the genetic landscape of cancer drug resistance mechanisms. Nat. Genetics. 56 pages 2479–2492 .2024
11. Cerezo, M., Robert, C., Liu, L. & Shen, S. The role of mRNA translational control in tumor immune escape and immunotherapy resistance. Cancer Res. 81, 5596–5604 (2021)
Image credit: © dr Renata Brandi PhD
