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Translating the Cancer Genome—Implications for Diagnosis and Treatment: a Call for Papers

Update: the submission deadline for the Special Issue on Cancer Genomics has been extended to July 15.

The PLOS Medicine Editors announce a Special Issue on Cancer Genomics to be guest edited by Dr. Elaine Mardis and Dr. Marc Ladanyi. Submissions are now being accepted ahead of the deadline of July 8.

PLOS Medicine, a premier open access, medical journal published by PLOS, is now inviting submissions of research papers to be considered for publication in a special issue devoted to cancer genomics and its clinical implications, which is planned for publication in November, 2016. The special issue, guest edited by Dr. Elaine R Mardis (McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University) and Dr. Marc Ladanyi (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center), will also include commissioned Editorials and Perspectives written by leaders in the field.

Over the last few years, dramatic reductions in the cost of sequencing as well advances in sequencing technologies have enabled key insights into the genomic alterations and somatic mutations that lead to cancer and accompany disease progression. For many cancers, the drivers and molecular evolutionary history are now beginning to be understood, and this molecular information is being used to develop novel, and in many cases tailored, therapies. The field is at an exciting juncture: promising results are emerging from immunotherapy and vaccine development programs. The editors of PLOS Medicine, together with Drs Mardis and Ladanyi, invite submissions for a special issue on this topic. We will consider high-quality translational and clinical studies, and priority will be given to research articles describing novel methodologies or treatments, and which promise to lead to clinical benefit in hard-to-treat or common cancers. In particular we welcome submissions in the following areas:

  • Characterization of genetic alterations leading to carcinogenesis or disease progression, with demonstrated implications for diagnosis or treatment
  • Cancer immunotherapy—novel approaches to harnessing the immune system to combat common cancers
  • Translational or clinical studies on cancer vaccine development, particularly those informed by tumor genome alterations
  • Liquid biopsy for disease detection and monitoring treatment responses
  • Large-scale data analyses and decision-support tools that promise to be of particular importance in aiding cancer diagnosis, provision of prognostic information, and therapies.

The deadline for submissions is Friday July 8.

Please submit your manuscript through our submissions site at the following address: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/s/submit-now

Authors are not required to send a pre-submission inquiry when submitting a manuscript for the cancer therapies special issue. Please indicate in your covering letter that you would like the full manuscript to be considered for the special issue. If you would like to enquire about the suitability of a manuscript for consideration in the special issue, please e-mail plosmedicine@plos.org

Featured image: an osteosarcoma cell with DNA in blue, energy factories (mitochondria) in yellow, and actin filaments, part of the cellular skeleton, in purple. Image credit: Dylan Burnette and Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, NCI.

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