Scope

This section on Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs is devoted to the publication of high quality research concerning all aspects of cancer and benign neoplasm drug treatment. The scope of the specialty section encompasses studies related to drugs targeting tumor cells, but also the various components of the tumor microenvironment, including non-tumor cells (e.g., endothelial cells, macrophages, lymphocytes, and fibroblasts), and stress conditions such as hypoxia and acidity. Relevant to the specialty section is experimental, pre-clinical or clinical research addressing the potential and limitations of new antineoplastic and antimetastatic therapies issued from inventive drug design or bioguided isolation from plants. Cancer treatment is an area of medicine where the concepts of multi-modality, drug delivery, and personalized medicine are the most advanced. Therefore, Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs will also have a particular interest in the following issues: The synergy between chemotherapy and other anticancer modalities, including radio-, immuno- and gene therapy; the use of nanoscale particles or targeting moieties to improve drug bioavailability; and the identification of biomarkers derived from proteomics, and genomics or imaging technologies to predict response or resistance to drug treatment.

Please note: Manuscripts testing/summarizing anti-cancer focused natural product research and pharmacological approaches derived from traditional medicine should be submitted through the Frontiers in Pharmacology pathway only.

Guidelines for the conception/peer-review of submissions

As many anticancer drugs working as cytotoxic compounds have non-selective effects annihilating their potential therapeutic benefits, manuscripts are advised to provide evidence of a significant selectivity towards cancer cells (vs. healthy cells).  Specifically, if the studied anticancer drug or modality does not target an oncogenic pathway, the authors should make every effort possible to prove that the cytotoxic or cytostatic effects they have identified exhibit selectivity for cancer cells (ideally 1 log difference in EC50 or IC50) vs. non-malignant cells (eg, fibroblasts or primary culture of cells).

The authors should also demonstrate the applicability of their anticancer modalities on a minimum of two well-authenticated cancer cell lines (ideally originating from distinct organs/tissues). The utilization of in vivo models must also be supported by such evidence.

In addition, for manuscripts dealing with plant extracts or other natural substances/compounds, the composition and the stability of the study material must be described in sufficient detail. In particular, for extracts, chromatograms with characterization of the dominating compound(s) are requested. The level of purity must be proven and included.

Submission

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