Molecular Targets and Therapeutic Strategies in Gynecological Cancers

Gynecological malignancies, including cancers originating from the ovaries, uterus, cervix, vagina, and vulva, are global health threat for women. These cancers often have different clinical features, histopathological traits, as well as treatment strategies, but similar molecular characteristics, such as many DNA damage response-related proteins, cell-cycle and apoptosis regulators, stimulator of angiogenesis, pro-angiogenic proteins, as well as inflammation-associated cytokines participate in the occurrence and development of these cancers. Quite a few targeted drugs have been approved by FDA for gynecological cancers in recent years, including VEGFi Bevacizumab, PARPis Olaparib, Rucaparib, Niraparib, Anti-PD-1 Pembrolizumab, and the combination of Pembrolizumab with lenvatinib (VEGFi). Hundreds of trials are on the VEGF, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, Ras/Raf/MEK, Base-excision repair/single-strand break pathway, HER, HGF/c-MET signal transduction pathways, and immune checkpoint blockades. However, despite biological, surgical, radiotherapeutic, chemotherapeutic and targeted therapeutic advances in the past two decades, early screening and effective therapeutic strategies for gynecological cancers remain challenging. Thus, there is an urgent need to nominate novel therapeutic targets and develop effective therapeutic strategies against gynecological cancers.

This research topic aims at providing updates on the newly identified molecular targets and developed therapeutic strategies for gynecological cancers, and discussing the recent advances on screening, diagnosis, therapies, and prognosis of gynecological cancers. We welcome submissions of Review, Mini-review, Original Research, Preclinical and Clinical Trial articles which provide novel information in the fields encompassing, but not limited to, the identifications of cancer signaling pathways, potential therapeutic target discoveries development of new targeted drugs and therapeutic strategies for gynecological cancers. The submitted articles in this Research Topic will help to highlight the current knowledge and the trend on targeted therapy of gynecological cancers.

Subtopics of interests include but not limited to:

• Identifications of novel biomarkers for diagnosis, therapies, or prognosis for different types of gynecological cancers.
• Novel bioinformatics and high-throughput methods that help the screening of potential biomarkers for the diagnosis or prognosis of gynecological cancers.
• Combinational therapeutic strategies with chemotherapeutic, radiotherapeutic immunotherapeutic, targeted agents for gynecological cancers.
• Novel synthetic lethality strategies for the treatment of gynecological cancers.
• Chemoresistance and recurrence mechanisms of gynecological cancers and corresponding potential therapies.
• Pharmacology, preclinical or clinical studies of novel targeted drugs for gynecological cancers.

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.