Editorial. Special issue "Advances in Molecular Oncology and personalised medicine: individuating molecular targets for intervention and amelioration of patients status"

Introduction to the Special issue "Advances in Molecular Oncology and personalized medicine: individuating molecular targets for intervention and amelioration of patients status". Editorial. Seminars in Cancer Biology, 2019. Scope of the thematic issue is to provide an update on the effects of modifications (at single nucleotide changes or chromosome translocation), gene silencing by chromatin repression or by mRNA translation block by microRNA activation, and to discuss the possible amplification effects and collaboration between different oncogenic pathways to the development and progression of cancerogenesis process. Driver mutations, epigenetic deregulation, DNA damage, telomere control escape, and changes in RNAs levels affect the cell differentiation state, potentially contributing to the stemness and the proliferation at an embryo-like state, as for cancer stem cells. Knowledge on deregulation of signaling pathways and altered gene expression in cancer are rapidly progressing. In this special issue we invited contributors to discuss various ways cancer cells evade the control of gatekeeper genes determining the cell fate and finality of cellular processes (DNA damage repair, cell cycling, G/M phase transition), the transcription and post-transcriptional regulation (microRNAs, nucleotide mutations, altered splicing) and various aspects of structural RNAs regulating the assembling and function of protein complexes (HOTAIR, HOTAIRM1, SAMMSON, BANCR, FAL1) in euchromatin /heterochromatin organization), and the Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), the higher metabolic rate, hypoxia response and the intercellular communication and inhibition of growth. Finally, few reviews described the benefits and drawbacks of inhibitors targeting the DNA repair proteins and the ongoing trials that will bring new perspectives on the applicability of these compounds in anticancer therapies.