Exploiting the Molecular Basis of Oesophageal Cancer for Targeted Therapies and Biomarkers for Drug Response: Guiding Clinical Decision-Making

Abstract

Worldwide, oesophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of deaths related to cancer and represents a major health concern. Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the regions of the world with the highest incidence and mortality rates for oesophageal cancer and most of the cases of oesophageal cancer in this region are oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The development and progression of OSCC is characterized by genomic changes which can be utilized as diagnostic or prognostic markers. These include changes in the expression of various genes involved in signaling pathways that regulate pathways that regulate processes that are related to the hallmarks of cancer, changes in the tumor mutational burden, changes in alternate splicing and changes in the expression of non-coding RNAs such as miRNA. These genomic changes give rise to characteristic profiles of altered proteins, transcriptomes, spliceosomes and genomes which can be used in clinical applications to monitor specific disease related parameters. Some of these profiles are characteristic of more aggressive forms of cancer or are indicative of treatment resistance or tumors that will be difficult to treat or require more specialized specific treatments. In Sub-Saharan region of Africa there is a high incidence of viral infections such as HPV and HIV, which are both risk factors for OSCC. The genomic changes that occur due to these infections can serve as diagnostic markers for OSCC related to viral infection. Clinically this is an important distinction as it influences treatment as well as disease progression and treatment monitoring practices. This underlines the importance of the characterization of the molecular landscape of OSCC in order to provide the best treatment, care, diagnosis and screening options for the management of OSCC.

Alternative Splicing Events and Their Clinical Significance in Colorectal Cancer: Targeted Therapeutic Opportunities

“…One of the remarkable features of AS is its tissue-specific nature [22]. Different tissues and cell types possess distinct repertoires of splicing factors, resulting in tissue-specific splicing patterns [7].…”

“…Further research is needed to fully understand the role of alternative splicing in cancer biology and to explore its potential as a therapeutic target. One of the remarkable features of AS is its tissue-specific nature [22]. Different tissues and cell types possess distinct repertoires of splicing factors, resulting in tissue-specific splicing patterns [7].…”