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Call for papers-Extracellular vesicles in cancer progression

Guest Editors:
Orazio Fortunato: Tumor Genomic Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Italy
Irina Matei: Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
Chunlin Ou: Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, China

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 30 June 2023


BMC Cancer is calling for submissions to our Collection on the dynamic interaction between cancer cells and the tumour microenvironment mediated by the bi-directional release and uptake of extracellular vesicles.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Orazio Fortunato: Tumor Genomic Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Italy

Orazio Fortunato, PhD, Tumor Genomic Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan. Due to his expertise in biomarkers, he is involved directly in the development and analyses of circulating extracellular vesicles as biomarkers in plasma of lung cancer patients. He had given a major contribution to the study of miRNAs, particularly focusing on those miRNAs de-regulated in lung tumors and plasma samples. Recently, his research is focused on the functional role of extracellular vesicles in the development and progression of lung cancer. His current interest also includes the identification of extracellular vesicles as biomarkers of response to immunotherapy in cancer patients.


Irina Matei: Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
Irina Matei is an Assistant Professor of Immunology Research for Weill Cornell Medicine. She has expertise in cancer metastasis and exosome biology and combines innovative basic tumor biology research with translational studies, relating basic discoveries to advances in patient treatments. Her current research focuses on the crosstalk between tumor cells and the local and distant tumor microenvironment via exosomes. Specifically, she is interested in deciphering the role of exosomes in mediating the crosstalk within and with the immune system in normal physiology, cancer and autoimmunity. Dr. Matei’s current work is focused on the mechanisms through which exosomes coax the immune system to contribute to malignant progression.


Chunlin Ou: Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, China

Chunlin Ou is a Professor for Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, working for the department of Pathology. His researches focus on the molecular targeted therapy for human cancers, which mainly involve: the role of Hippo/YAP signaling pathway in targeted therapy of cancers; exploring the regulatory mechanism of extracellular vesicles-derived non-coding RNAs in cancers; searching novel biomarkers and drug targets for the early diagnosis and therapy of cancers; and clinical application of mRNA vaccine in cancers. Professor Ou is also an Editorial Board member of BMC Cancer.





About the collection

Over the last few decades it has become clear that the cross-talk between neoplastic cells and the tumour microenvironment, comprising resident and infiltrating host cells, extracellular matrix proteins and secreted factors, plays a key role in tumour progression and therapeutic resistance. The dynamic interaction between cancer cells and the tumour microenvironment can be mediated by the bi-directional release and uptake of extracellular vesicles. Defined as lipid bilayer enclosed vesicles found in several biological fluids, extracellular vesicles are currently investigated for their ability to carry and deliver, at both short and long distances, several bioactive molecules, including nucleic acids, lipids and membrane-bound and cytosolic proteins, which could potentially influence many aspects of cancer progression. 

  • In recognition of the growing field of research, BMC Cancer have launched this collection to bring together research on:
  • The role of extracellular vesicles in modulating the behaviour of resident and host cells in the tumour microenvironment.
  • The role of circulating extracellular vesicles in setting up the pre-metastatic niche
  • The role of extracellular vesicles in therapeutic resistance.
  • Investigating the cargos of cancer-related extracellular vesicles as potential diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers.
  • Changes in the mechanisms of extracellular vesicles biogenesis, release and uptake in cancer.
  • The use of extracellular vesicles as delivery vehicles for therapeutics.
  • The role of extracellular vesicles as therapeutic targets.
  • Advances in the isolation and characterisation of cancer-related extracellular vesicles.

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of research articles, data notes, study protocols, and database articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, SNAPP. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Extracellular vesicles in cancer progression" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.