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About the special issue

Recent advances have revealed the tumor microenvironment (TME) as a critical player in cancer genesis, progression and therapeutic resistance. The tumor microenvironment supports tumor survival through intricate interactions, extracellular matrix, vasculature, and specialised cell types including immune cells.

Exploiting mechanisms and targeting the immune or metabolic microenvironment offer clinical opportunities for immuno-oncology, including T-cell and B-cell therapies, cancer vaccines and combination therapy. Further, the tumor microenvironment can reveal biomarkers for patient stratification and accurate prognosis. Understanding of the tumor microenvironment holds huge potential for improving diagnosis and treatment for cancer patients.

Expert Review of Clinical Immunology is pleased to invite submissions to a special focus issue on cancer immunotherapy and the tumor microenvironment, with a specific focus on clinical insights, therapeutic development and trial design.

Editorial Board Members Professor Sophia Karagiannis (Kings College London) and Professor Nima Rezaei (Tehran University of Medical Sciences) are advising on this exciting collection of cutting-edge insights into the tumor microenvironment.

Potential submissions could include:

-Characterisation and role of immune cell types e.g., neutrophils, fibroblasts, Natural Killer
cells
– Relevance of the tumor microenvironment in cancer evolution
– Interactions with microbiome
– The influence of metabolic processes
– Interactions with the extracellular matrix
– Role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer progression
– Inflammation gene signatures
– Tumor-immune cell interactions
– Biomarkers and predicting treatment outcomes
– Patient stratification in immuno-oncology
– New targets for cancer immunotherapy
– Drug resistance
– Computer modeling and new technologies in target identification
– Impact and modulation of the tumor microenvironment in immune checkpoint inhibitor
therapy
– Outlook on progress in the clinic and patient outcomes

We welcome submissions of Original Research, Reviews, Perspectives, Meeting Reports and Editorials for consideration in this special focus issue.

If you are interested in contributing or would like to learn more, then please reach out to the Commissioning Editor, Amelia Dennis, who will be happy to assist.

About the Guest Advisors:

Sophia Karagiannis is a translational B cell and cancer immunologist. She gained BA and MS degrees in Biochemistry at Rutgers University, USA, having received scholarship awards and a teaching assistantship and completed a PhD in B cell and IgE immunology at King’s College London, UK, under SERC and SmithKline Beecham-funded studentships.

She developed immunotherapeutic strategies for cancer and inflammatory diseases in academic and biotechnology environments in London and Cambridge as a postdoctoral associate and scientific investigator and formed research group as a National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre Senior Research Fellow in 2007.

She was appointed Professor of Translational Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy at King’s College London in 2019 and heads a cancer
antibody discovery team focusing on the crosstalk between human immunity and solid tumours with a particular focus on B cell and antibody responses and understanding the impact of antibody isotype on antibody therapeutic efficacy for melanoma, ovarian, and breast cancers.

Research areas in the Karagiannis laboratory also include antibody-engaging immune effector cells such as monocytes/macrophages and basophils in the circulation and the tumour microenvironment, and engineering antibodies of different specificity, class/isotype, Fc-optimised antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

She is a founding member of the field of AllergoOncology, focused on the interface between Th2 immunity, allergy, IgE, and cancer, and serves as Secretary of the AllergoOncology Working Group in the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Her group is the first to design and translate IgE class antibodies to a first-in-man clinical trial in cancer patients. She is the author of several patents on antibody technologies, and the scientific founder of Epsilogen Ltd, the first immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing IgE-based cancer immunotherapies.

Professor Nima Rezaei gained his medical degree (MD) from Tehran University of Medical Sciences
and subsequently obtained an MSc in Molecular and Genetic Medicine and a PhD in Clinical Immunology and Human Genetics from the University of Sheffield, UK. He also spent a short-term fellowship of Pediatric Clinical Immunology and Bone Marrow Transplantation in the Newcastle General Hospital. Professor Rezaei is now the Full Professor of Immunology and Vice Dean of Research and Technologies, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, and the co-founder and Head of the Research Center for Immunodeficiencies. He is also the Founding President of Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN). Prof. Rezaei has already been the Director of more than 100 research projects and has designed and participated in several international collaborative projects. Prof. Rezaei is the editor, editorial assistant, or editorial board member of more than 40 international journals. He has edited more than 50 international books, has presented more than 500 lectures/posters in congresses/meetings, and has published more than 1,100 scientific papers in international journals.