• Special Issue Topic

    Innovative Strategies to Target Triple-negative Breast Cancer

    Submission Deadline: May 31, 2023

    Guest Editors

    Dr. Laura Cerchia E-Mail

    Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology "G. Salvatore"-National Research Council (IEOS-CNR), Via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy

    Research Keywords: RNA aptamer; SELEX technology; targeted therapy; targeted drug delivery; cancer theranostics; cancer cell biology and signaling; TNBC


    Dr. Simona Camorani E-Mail

    Institute of Experimental Endocrinology and Oncology "G. Salvatore"-National Research Council (IEOS-CNR), Via S. Pansini 5, 80131 Naples, Italy

    Research Keywords: Triple-negative breast cancer; RNA aptamers; cell-SELEX technology; cancer cell biology and signaling; targeted therapy; targeted delivery system; chemotherapy resistance; cancer immunotherapy


    About the Special Issue

    Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which represents approximately 15-20% of all diagnosed breast cancers, has a distinctly aggressive nature, high risk for recurrence and poor prognosis. TNBC lacks expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), thus TNBC patients are not eligible for hormone or anti-HER2 therapies. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is the standard of care for many TNBC patients but about 30-50% develop resistance. While the overall mortality for breast cancer has recently declined, management of TNBC is still challenging because of its high biological/clinical heterogeneity and the limited targeted therapies that are available for restricted groups of patients. These include: 1) PARP inhibitors (Olaparib or Talazoparib) for BRCA-mutated patients; 2) anti-PD-L1 (Atezolizumab) or anti-PD-1 (Pembrolizumab) monoclonal antibodies, in combination with chemotherapy, for patients with unresectable locally advanced or metastatic PD-L1-positive TNBC and 3) the antibody-drug conjugate (Sacituzumab govitecan), recently approved for patients with metastatic TNBC expressing anti-trophoblast cell-surface antigen.

    TNBC has an urgent therapeutic need. This Special Issue invites original research articles and timely reviews on all aspects regarding innovative strategies to target triple-negative breast cancer, highlighting problems, solutions and future directions in the development of new therapeutic approaches.

    Keywords: Molecular heterogeneity; tumor microenvironment; novel targets; active cancer targeting; mechanisms of drug resistance; immunotherapy and combination treatments; antibody-based therapeutics; aptamer-based targeted therapies

    Call for Papers

    Published Articles

    Open Access
    Review
    Early-stage triple negative breast cancer: the therapeutic role of immunotherapy and the prognostic value of pathological complete response
    Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents an aggressive disease associated with a high risk of recurrence after curative treatment and a poor prognosis in the metastatic setting. Chemotherapy  [...] Read more.
    Pierluigi De Santis ... Palma Fedele
    Published: February 28, 2024 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2024;5:232–250
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/etat.2024.00215
    View:330
    Download:20
    Times Cited: 0
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Efficacy of metformin and electrical pulses in breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells
    Aim: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a very aggressive subset of breast cancer, with limited treatment options, due to the lack of three commonly targeted receptors, which merits the need [...] Read more.
    Praveen Sahu ... Raji Sundararajan
    Published: February 19, 2024 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2024;5:54–73
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/etat.2024.00204
    View:246
    Download:8
    Times Cited: 0
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Identification of lysyl oxidase as an adipocyte-secreted mediator that promotes a partial mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition in MDA-MB-231 cells
    Aim: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women worldwide, where adiposity has been linked to BC morbidity. In general, obese premenopausal women diagnosed with triple-negative BC (TNB [...] Read more.
    Cassidy M. Van Stiphout ... Alicia M. Viloria-Petit
    Published: January 16, 2024 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2024;5:1–19
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/etat.2024.00201
    View:439
    Download:20
    Times Cited: 0
    Open Access
    Perspective
    Facing the conundrum: which first-line therapy should be used for patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer carrying germline BRCA mutation?
    Pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy has been established as the preferred first-line therapy for treating metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) with programmed cell death ligand-1 (P [...] Read more.
    Sabah Alaklabi ... Shipra Gandhi
    Published: December 27, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:1301–1309
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/etat.2023.00198
    View:415
    Download:12
    Times Cited: 0
    Open Access
    Review
    Targeting cancer stem cell plasticity in triple-negative breast cancer
    Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive breast cancer subtype with limited treatment options. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are thought to play a crucial role in TNBC progression and  [...] Read more.
    Zhengwang Guo, Shuyan Han
    Published: December 11, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:1165–1181
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/etat.2023.00190
    View:377
    Download:12
    Times Cited: 0
    Open Access
    Review
    Nuclear epidermal growth factor receptor as a therapeutic target
    Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of the most well-studied oncogenes with roles in proliferation, growth, metastasis, and therapeutic resistance. This intense study has led to the devel [...] Read more.
    Benjamin Atwell ... Joyce Schroeder
    Published: August 30, 2023 Explor Target Antitumor Ther. 2023;4:616–629
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/etat.2023.00156