Guest Editors
Dr. Laura Georgiana Necula
Email: laura.necula@virology.ro
Affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Pathology, Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Bucharest, 030304, Romania
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Research Interests: cancer cell signaling, targeted anti-cancer therapy, immunotherapy, biomarkers, gastric cancer
Dr. Mihaela Chivu-Economescu
Email: mihaela.economescu@virology.ro
Affiliation: Department of Cellular and Molecular Pathology, Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology, Bucharest, 030304, Romania
Homepage:
Research Interests: immunotherapy, intracellular signaling, targeted antitumor therapy, immunology, immune response during viral infections
Summary
Gastrointestinal cancer represents a group of malignancies with high global prevalence and poor overall survival, with an incidence that is notably increasing among younger populations. This group includes gastric cancer, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Immunotherapy has emerged as a promising approach in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, but its efficacy remains variable due to the high degree of tumor heterogeneity and the complex tumor microenvironment, which often creates an immunosuppressive state that limits therapeutic effectiveness. Recent advances have partially elucidated the molecular and immunological heterogeneity of gastrointestinal cancers, identifying key predictive biomarkers such as microsatellite instability, mismatch repair deficiency, tumor mutational burden, and PD-L1 expression, thereby facilitating the development of personalized therapeutic strategies. Immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4 have demonstrated significant benefits in subsets of gastric, colorectal, and hepatocellular carcinomas; however, resistance mechanisms and the limited availability of reliable biomarkers for response prediction remain ongoing challenges.
We invite submissions of original research and review articles that explore recent progress, clinical applications, and emerging perspectives in immunotherapy for gastrointestinal cancers.
Keywords
gastrointestinal cancers, immunotherapy, tumor microenvironment, biomarkers, molecular targets
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