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Hot Topics

Section edited by Richard J. Ablin

The Hot Topics section will publish a limited number of high interest review articles per year, focusing on cutting edge topics from across the breadth of the journal’s scope. Articles will cover emerging concepts and points of view or foresight, rather than focusing on comprehensive discussions of well-established areas. We encourage the participation of investigators from different groups with complementary expertise in the proposed theme.

Articles should be submitted by invitation of Editor-in-Chief, Francesco Marincola, only, and will be published in the section free of charge. If you would like to propose a review article for the Hot Topics series, please contact Dr Marincola at info@biomedcentral.com with a suggested outline.

Featured articles


Intermittent versus continuous energy restriction on weight loss and cardiometabolic outcomes

Review | Iolanda Cioffi et al


Bringing radiomics into a multi-omics framework for a comprehensive genotype–phenotype characterization of oncological diseases

Review | Mario Zanfardino et al


Hypoxia and the phenomenon of immune exclusion

Review | Violena Pietrobon & Francesco M. Marincola 

  1. Over the last few years, cancer immunotherapy experienced tremendous developments and it is nowadays considered a promising strategy against many types of cancer. However, the exclusion of lymphocytes from the...

    Authors: Violena Pietrobon and Francesco M. Marincola

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2021 19:9

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  2. Immunotherapy is an efficient way to cure cancer by modulating the patient’s immune response. However, the immunotherapy response is heterogeneous and varies between individual patients and cancer subtypes, re...

    Authors: Sabah Nisar, Ajaz A. Bhat, Sheema Hashem, Santosh K. Yadav, Arshi Rizwan, Mayank Singh, Puneet Bagga, Muzafar A. Macha, Michael P. Frenneaux, Ravinder Reddy and Mohammad Haris

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2020 18:471

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  3. Given that abnormal autophagy is involved in the pathogenesis of cancers, we sought to explore the potential value of autophagy-associated genes in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

    Authors: Xiaofei Wang, Shuang Yao, Zengtuan Xiao, Jialin Gong, Zuo Liu, Baoai Han and Zhenfa Zhang

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2020 18:149

    Content type: Research

    Published on:

  4. Genomic and radiomic data integration, namely radiogenomics, can provide meaningful knowledge in cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. Despite several data structures based on multi-layer architecture pro...

    Authors: Mario Zanfardino, Monica Franzese, Katia Pane, Carlo Cavaliere, Serena Monti, Giuseppina Esposito, Marco Salvatore and Marco Aiello

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:337

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  5. This systematic review and meta-analysis summarized the most recent evidence on the efficacy of intermittent energy restriction (IER) versus continuous energy restriction on weight-loss, body composition, bloo...

    Authors: Iolanda Cioffi, Andrea Evangelista, Valentina Ponzo, Giovannino Ciccone, Laura Soldati, Lidia Santarpia, Franco Contaldo, Fabrizio Pasanisi, Ezio Ghigo and Simona Bo

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:371

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  6. With the exception of genotoxic oncology drugs, first-in-human, Phase 1 clinical studies of investigational drugs have traditionally been conducted in healthy volunteers (HVs). The primary goal of these studie...

    Authors: Joyson J. Karakunnel, Nam Bui, Latha Palaniappan, Keith T. Schmidt, Kenneth W. Mahaffey, Briggs Morrison, William D. Figg and Shivaani Kummar

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:336

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  7. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha was originally identified in the 1970s as the serum mediator of innate immunity capable of inducing hemorrhagic necrosis in tumors. Today, a wide spectrum of biological activi...

    Authors: Steven F. Josephs, Thomas E. Ichim, Stephen M. Prince, Santosh Kesari, Francesco M. Marincola, Anton Rolando Escobedo and Amir Jafri

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:242

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  8. Non-typhoidal Salmonella usually induces self-limiting gastroenteritis. However, in many parts of Africa, especially in individuals who are malnourished, infected with malaria, or have sickle cell disease, the...

    Authors: Seah H. Lim, Barbara A. Methé, Bettina M. Knoll, Alison Morris and Stephen K. Obaro

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:239

    Content type: Commentary

    Published on:

  9. Immunotherapy has matured into standard treatment for several cancers, but much remains to be done to extend the reach of its effectiveness particularly to cancers that are resistant within each indication. Th...

    Authors: Laura Soldati, Laura Di Renzo, Emilio Jirillo, Paolo A. Ascierto, Francesco M. Marincola and Antonino De Lorenzo

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:75

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  10. Extensive research within the last several decades has revealed that the major risk factors for most chronic diseases are infections, obesity, alcohol, tobacco, radiation, environmental pollutants, and diet. I...

    Authors: Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakkara, Bethsebie L. Sailo, Kishore Banik, Choudhary Harsha, Sahdeo Prasad, Subash Chandra Gupta, Alok Chandra Bharti and Bharat B. Aggarwal

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:14

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  11. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogenous disease associated with distinct genetic and molecular abnormalities. Somatic mutations result in dysregulation of intracellular signaling pathways, epigenetics, ...

    Authors: Seah H. Lim, Patrycja M. Dubielecka and Vikram M. Raghunathan

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:183

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  12. Immunotherapy consists of activating the patient’s immune system to fight cancer and has the great potential of preventing future relapses thanks to immunological memory. A great variety of strategies have eme...

    Authors: Michele Graciotti, Cristiana Berti, Harm-Anton Klok and Lana Kandalaft

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:142

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  13. While many decades of scientific research studies have gone into harnessing the power of the immune system to fight cancer, only recently have cancer immunotherapeutic approaches begun to show robust clinical ...

    Authors: Mohammad Haris, Puneet Bagga, Hari Hariharan, Bevin McGettigan-Croce, Laura A. Johnson and Ravinder Reddy

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:140

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  14. Recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are one of today’s most successful therapeutic classes in inflammatory diseases and oncology. A wider accessibility and implementation, however, is hampered by the high...

    Authors: Kevin Hollevoet and Paul J. Declerck

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:131

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

  15. The vitamin C deficiency disease scurvy is characterised by musculoskeletal pain and recent epidemiological evidence has indicated an association between suboptimal vitamin C status and spinal pain. Furthermor...

    Authors: Anitra C. Carr and Cate McCall

    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:77

    Content type: Review

    Published on:

Journal of Translational Medicine

ISSN: 1479-5876

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