Oncogenic Signal Transduction Processes: Regulation, Biomarkers and Therapy Targets

A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cell Microenvironment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 1095

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Centro de Investigación del Cáncer-Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer (CSIC-Universidad de Salamanca) and CIBERONC, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Interests: RAS oncogenes; RAS signaling pathways; RAS activation by guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs); mammalian GEFs of the SOS and GRF families; inhibitors of RAS-driven tumors; RAS and GEF inhibitors; cancer molecular biology; signal transduction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro de Investigación del Cáncer-Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer (CSIC-Universidad de Salamanca) and CIBERONC, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Interests: cancer biology and immunotherapy research; RAS proteins and GEF activation mechanisms; inhibitors of RAS-driven tumors; signal transduction mechanisms in RAS-associated pathways; preclinical assays for evaluating RAS-related therapeutics; integration of immunology and RAS signaling in tumor microenvironment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro de Investigación del Cáncer-Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular del Cáncer (CSIC-Universidad de Salamanca) and CIBERONC, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Interests: RAS GTPases; signaling; guanine nucleotide exchange factors; RASopathies; lung development; inhibitor screening; interactome
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

An integrated, comprehensive view of the molecules, processes and signaling pathways that are relevant in tumorigenesis is of paramount importance in cellular and molecular biomedicine. Deregulated cell signaling drives cancer. A wide variety of genetic mutations and/or transcriptional or translational alterations impacting relevant signaling pathways and partners are known to underlie tumor initiation and development. Improving our knowledge regarding these alterations in oncogenic signal transduction is essential to achieve a complete understanding of the progressive pathophysiological changes leading to cancer. A deeper characterization of these altered signaling molecules and processes should also foster the identification of new biomarkers and therapeutic targets that are instrumental for future clinical interventions against tumoral diseases. 

Publications on this subject are dispersed throughout the scientific literature. We believe that this Special Issue will provide a great opportunity to bring together, in a single place, a relevant set of papers dealing with recent data on altered signal transduction events, molecules or mechanisms that may account for the various phenotypic defects, at the genetic, metabolism or the tumor microenvironment levels, usually associated with cancer development.

This Special Issue should be useful for both researchers and students interested in cancer signaling. Aimed at providing an inclusive view of the cellular signaling alterations that occur in cancer, we invite both reviews and original articles focusing on the main cancer signaling pathways and the crosstalk among them. 

Dr. Eugenio Santos
Dr. Rosula Garcia-Navas
Dr. Alberto Fernández-Medarde
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • oncogenic signal transduction, tumorigenesis and metastasis
  • signaling pathways in cancer metabolism
  • cell signaling in the tumor microenvironment
  • oncogenic signaling, biomarkers and molecular diagnostics
  • oncogenic signaling, therapeutic targets and treatment
  • interplay among signaling pathways in cancer
  • tumor cell pathophysiology and signaling

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 3075 KiB  
Article
A Four-Gene Panel in Rectal Swab Samples as a Biomarker for Colorectal Cancer Screening
by Lui Ng, Sunny Kit-Man Wong, Hung-Sing Li, Ryan Wai-Yan Sin, Johnny Hon-Wai Man, Oswens Siu-Hung Lo, Roberta Wen-Chi Pang, Dominic Chi-Chung Foo and Wai-Lun Law
Cells 2024, 13(11), 930; https://doi.org/10.3390/cells13110930 - 28 May 2024
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Abstract
Background: The dysregulation of gene expression is one of the key molecular features of colorectal cancer (CRC) development. This study aimed to investigate whether such dysregulation is reflected in rectal swab specimens of CRC patients and to evaluate its potential as a non-invasive [...] Read more.
Background: The dysregulation of gene expression is one of the key molecular features of colorectal cancer (CRC) development. This study aimed to investigate whether such dysregulation is reflected in rectal swab specimens of CRC patients and to evaluate its potential as a non-invasive approach for screening. Methods: We compared the expression level of 14 CRC-associated genes in tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissue of CRC patients and examined the correlation of their levels in tissue with paired rectal swab specimens. The level of these 14 genes in rectal swab specimens was compared among patients with CRC or polyp and control subjects, and the diagnostic potential of each dysregulated gene and the gene panel were evaluated. Results: The expression of CXCR2, SAA, COX1, PPARδ, PPARγ, Groγ, IL8, p21, c-myc, CD44 and CSF1 was significantly higher in CRC, and there was a significant correlation in the levels of most of them between the CRC and rectal swab specimens. In the training study, we showed that CD44, IL8, CXCR2 and c-myc levels were significantly higher in the rectal swab specimens of the CRC patients. Such result was confirmed in the validation study. A panel of these four genes was developed, and ROC analysis showed that this four-gene panel could identify CRC patients with an AUC value of 0.83 and identify overall polyp and precancerous adenoma patients with AUC values of 0.6522 and 0.7322, respectively. Finally, the predictive study showed that the four-gene panel demonstrated sensitivities of 63.6%, 76.9% and 88.9% in identifying overall polyp, precancerous adenoma and CRC patients, respectively, whereas the specificity for normal subjects was 72.2%. Conclusion: The expression of CRC-associated genes in rectal swab specimens reflects the dysregulation status in colorectal tissue, and the four-gene panel is a potential non-invasive biomarker for early precancerous adenoma and CRC screening. Full article
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