Open Access Week – key open access oncology articles from 2015

Here on Oncology Central we know how important access to emerging research is to all individuals within the oncology community, whether in clinical practice, cancer research or beyond. That’s why we’ve committed to continually providing you with the accessible high-quality content that matters to you.

To that end, as this week marks Open Access Week, we’re celebrating by highlighting some top peer-reviewed oncology articles that are open for all to read, published this year within flagship Future Medicine titles such as Future Oncology and Pharmacogenomics. Covering key issues such as personalized medicine in cancer, the clinical utility of nanotechnology and the identification of further immunotherapy targets, these excellent articles are just a click away.

Personalized medicine in cancer: where are we today?

Turnbull AK. Future Oncol. 11(20):2795–2798, doi: 10.2217/fon.15.204 (2015)

This opinion piece from Future Oncology touches on the history of personalized therapy in cancer, as it dawned on the scientific community that a ‘one-treatment-fits-all’ approach was not an appropriate match for the disease. Taking the example of breast cancer, author Arran Turnbull of University of Edinburgh & Western General Hospital (UK) expounds on recent advancements that have allowed us to move further towards the vision of optimizing therapy regimens for each patient.

Targeting the T-cell co-stimulatory CD27/CD70 pathway in cancer immunotherapy: rationale and potential

van de Ven K, Borst J. Immunotherapy. 7(6):655–667, doi: 10.2217/imt.15.32 (2015)

2015 has certainly been a remarkable year for cancer immunotherapies, with checkpoint inhibitors reporting impressive data in melanoma and more recently in lung cancer. With the growing body of evidence suggesting that cytotoxic immune responses to cancer are possible if tumor-mediated immunosuppression can be overcome, this Review article from Immunotherapy explores how targeting CD27 to stimulate T-cell co-stimulatory receptors could bolster the efficacy of immunotherapy.

Nanotechnology in the war against cancer: new arms against an old enemy – a clinical view

Friberg S, Nyström AM. Future Oncol. 11(13):1961–1975, doi: 10.2217/fon.15.91 (2015)

Take a look at the potential of nanomedicine in oncology from a clinical point of view in this Review article from Future Oncology, written by experts from Karolinska Institutet (Sweden). What are the possibilities for the use of nanotechnologies in the clinic? What are the common nanoparticles and what are their potential advantages compared with conventional pharmaceuticals?

HOT mutation screening in human glioblastomas

Krell D, Mulholland P, Stebbing J, Tomlinson I & Bardella C. Future Science OA. doi:10.4155/fso.15.20 (2015). Posted online on June 17, 2015.

Published in Future Science Group’s inaugural fully open access journal, Future Science OA, this Preliminary Communication article details a study investigating the presence of HOT gene mutations in glioblastoma. With the hypothesis that HOT gene mutations could result in D-2HG production and thus tumorigenesis in much the same way as IDH mutations, the genomic DNA of 42 stage IV glioblastoma samples was sequenced, but no HOT mutations were discovered.

Using large-scale genomics data to identify driver mutations in lung cancer: methods and challenges

Hudson AM, Wirth C, Stephenson NL, Fawdar S, Brognard J, Miller CJ. Pharmacogenomics. 16(10):1149–1160, doi: 10.2217/pgs.15.60 (2015)

Discover more about the various genomic methods being employed to try to uncover driver mutations within lung cancers, and the challenges inherent in this task owing to the high mutational burden of smoking-related cancers. This Review article from Pharmacogenomics discusses the uses and limitations of online repositories of cancer genomics data, in silico mutation analysis and biological dependency screens. Click the link above and learn more about the search for targetable mutations in lung cancer.

Impact of sorafenib dosing on outcome from the European patient subset of the GIDEON study

Daniele B, Croitoru A, Papandreou C et al. Future Oncol. 11(18):2553–2562, doi: 10.2217/fon.15.163 (2015)

This research article details a study that aimed to evaluate multikinase inhibitor sorafenib dosing and safety in the European subpopulation of a large trial carried out in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. This analysis included 1113 patients and draws conclusions regarding optimal dosing with regard to treatment duration and overall survival.