A book that will help you find clarity in the midst of distraction and confusion

An exciting class of regulatory small noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) has emerged in recent years that play key role(s) in the etiology/pathogenesis and diagnosis/prognosis of various human diseases including various hematologic and solid cancers, cardiovascular diseases including stroke/atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic disorders, neuropathies, neurodegeneration including Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease or Multiple Sclerosis, neurological disorders including epilepsy and muscular dystrophies, liver diseases, pulmonary fibrosis, immune-mediated inflammatory disorders and inflammatory bowel disease, gastritis, autoimmune disorders including arthritis, acromegaly, chronic kidney disease, allergic rhinitis, vitiligo, osteoporosis, obstructive sleep apnea, ocular disease, periodontitis, skeletal muscle atrophy, and parasitic diseases including leishmaniasis, amongst others. These ncRNAs include primarily microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs), piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) or exosomal RNAs (exRNAs), etc. that modulate the expression of target genes thus potentially regulating protein expression in normal versus diseased individuals. This Research Topic recognizes the importance of and seeks to explore, ncRNAs in the diagnosis, etiology, progression, prognosis, and treatment of human disease as well as novel biomarker discovery by multi-omics technologies and other methodologies. Indeed, high-throughput technologies employing deep sequencing, proteogenomic, microarrays, and quantitative real-time PCR have begun to shed new light on the architecture of ncRNA landscapes in various diseases and key signal transduction cascades modulated by these ncRNAs in disease pathology. Epigenetic control of gene expression mediated via miRNAs, for instance, has expanded our understanding of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by critical ncRNAs in the cellular milieu. Network biology approaches including the construction of relevant ncRNA networks, ncRNA-mRNA networks, and bioinformatics for mining of ncRNAs, are gaining greater relevance in the search for ‘target hubs’ or novel biomarker(s) of disease. Delineation of ncRNA signatures by transcriptomic profiling or RNA-seq, for example, is an important milestone in furthering our knowledge of the repertoire of specific ncRNAs implicated in various diseases. Further, elucidation of the specific steps of the signaling cascades where ncRNAs exert their regulatory actions will augment our understanding of diseases. This will lead to the development of (i) a novel biomarker, or biomarker signature panel, for disease; (ii) ncRNA-based companion diagnostics for diagnosis of disease; (iii) point-of-care testing devices based on ncRNAs; (iv) newer therapeutic agents that target novel biomarkers with specificity, thereby reducing toxicity; (v) ncRNA-based prophylactic approaches of the future; and, (vi) ncRNA-based prognosis of disease.

The tumor microenvironment has become a very important and hot topic in cancer research within the past few years. The tumor microenvironment is defined as the normal cells, molecules, and blood vessels that surround and feed a tumor cell. As many scientists have realized, studying the tumor microenvironment has become critical to moving the field forward, since there are many players in a tumor’s localized and surrounding area, which can significantly change cancer cell behavior. There is a dual relationship wherein the tumor can change its microenvironment and the microenvironment can affect how a tumor grows and spreads. Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer Progression and Cancer Therapy aims to shed light on the mechanisms, factors, and mediators that are involved in the cancer cell environment. Recent studies have demonstrated that in addition to promoting tumor progression and protecting tumor cells from the spontaneous immune-mediated rejection and different forms of cancer therapeutics, tumor microenvironment can also be a target and mediator of both standard and newly-emerging forms of cancer therapeutics. Thus, the dual role of the tumor microenvironment is the integral focus of the volume. The volume highlights the bi-directional interactions between tumor cells and non-malignant tumor component during tumor progression and treatment. It also focuses on the three groups of the reactive tumor component: stromal cells, blood vessels and the infiltrating immune cells. These three groups are discussed under the lens of their role in promoting tumor growth, shielding the tumor from rejection and from standard forms of cancer therapies. They are emerging as targets and mediators of standard and new forms of potential therapy.