Skip to main content

Patient-targeted Molecular Therapies

This section is closed to new submissions.

The mission of this section is to enrich the overall mandate of the journal through effectively capturing the growing sector of molecular targeted therapies with broad therapeutic applicability, benefiting from a patient-centered outcomes research focus and translational effectiveness approach, to generate adequate information during research and early development stages, as well as consensus on the best available evidence.

This section has a unique and defining objective and rationale relative to the other sections that focus primarily on translational immunology and oncology. In contrast, this section will add the complementary discourse between translational research and translational effectiveness. In doing so, it will expand the overall vision of the journal, and address current, timely and cutting edge research and reviews about patient-centered targeted therapies, in context of translating cost and benefit effectiveness to specific clinical settings.

Featured articles


Ebola: translational science considerations

Review| Francesco Chiappelli, et al


Early decline in serum phospho-CSE1L levels in vemurafenib/sunitinib-treated melanoma and sorafenib/lapatinib-treated colorectal tumor xenografts

Research | Woan-Ruoh Lee, et al


PI3K/AKT/mTOR inhibition in combination with doxorubicin is an effective therapy for leiomyosarcoma

Research | Sharon F Wu et al

  1. Bisphosphonate-induced osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) presents with a typical pattern of jaw necrosis in patients who have been prescribed bisphosphonates (BPs) and other antiangiogenetic drugs to treat oste...

    Authors: Kye Hwa Lee, Su-Hwan Kim, Chang Hyen Kim, Byung Joo Min, Grace Juyun Kim, Younggyun Lim, Hun-Sung Kim, Kang-Min Ahn and Ju Han Kim
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:381
  2. Although methyl-tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is the only clinical topical agent for gallstone dissolution, its use is limited by its side effects mostly arising from a relatively low boiling point (55 °C). In t...

    Authors: Ho Joong Choi, Suk Joon Cho, Ok-Hee Kim, Jin Sook Song, Ha-Eun Hong, Sang Chul Lee, Kee-Hwan Kim, Sang Kuon Lee, Young Kyoung You, Tae Ho Hong, Eun Young Kim, Jung Hyun Park, Gun Hyung Na, Dong Do You, Jae Hyun Han, Jae Woo Park…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:195
  3. Molecularly targeted therapies using receptor inhibitors, small molecules or monoclonal antibodies are routinely applied in oncology. Verification of target expression should be mandatory prior to initiation o...

    Authors: Niklas Schäfer, Gerrit H. Gielen, Laurèl Rauschenbach, Sied Kebir, Andreas Till, Roman Reinartz, Matthias Simon, Pitt Niehusmann, Christoph Kleinschnitz, Ulrich Herrlinger, Torsten Pietsch, Björn Scheffler and Martin Glas
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:96
  4. Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major risk factors of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Increasing evidence indicates that microRNA (miRNA)–mRNA axis is involved in HCC. However, a comprehensive miRNA–mRNA...

    Authors: Weiyang Lou, Jingxing Liu, Bisha Ding, Danni Chen, Liang Xu, Jun Ding, Donghai Jiang, Lin Zhou, Shusen Zheng and Weimin Fan
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2019 17:7
  5. Demineralized dentin matrix (DDM) is commonly used as a bone-graft substitute. This study measured and compared human hepatitis B viruses (HBV) DNA in fresh dentin to that of dentin processed into DDM extracte...

    Authors: Inwoong Um, Sungweon Choi, Youngkyun Kim, Kangmi Pang, Jongho Lee, Minsun Lee and Bongju Kim
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:351
  6. Diabetes induces long bone loss and aggravation of periodontitis-induced alveolar bone loss. Simvastatin (SIM), which is a lipid-lowering agent is known to have an anabolic effect on bone. Therefore, we invest...

    Authors: Ae Ri Kim, Ji-Hye Kim, Aeryun Kim, Yongsung Sohn, Jeong-Heon Cha, Eun-Jung Bak and Yun-Jung Yoo
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:306
  7. Cigarette smoking (CS) triggers an intense and harmful inflammatory response in lungs mediated by alveolar and blood macrophages, monocytes, and neutrophils and is closely associated with prevalence of tubercu...

    Authors: Yaoqin Yuan, Dongzi Lin, Long Feng, Mingyuan Huang, Huimin Yan, Yumei Li, Yinwen Chen, Bihua Lin, Yan Ma, Ziyu Ye, Yuezhi Mei, Xiaolin Yu, Keyuan Zhou, Qunzhou Zhang, Tao Chen and Jincheng Zeng
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:284
  8. Periodontitis is an infectious disease that manifests as alveolar bone loss surrounding the roots of teeth. Diabetes aggravates periodontitis-induced alveolar bone loss via suppression of bone formation. Inter...

    Authors: Ji-Hye Kim, Ae Ri Kim, Yun Hui Choi, Aeryun Kim, Yongsung Sohn, Gye-Hyeong Woo, Jeong-Heon Cha, Eun-Jung Bak and Yun-Jung Yoo
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:70
  9. Around 30% of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are refractory to current IBD drugs or relapse over time. Novel treatments are called for, and low dose Naltrexone (LDN) may provide a safe, easily ...

    Authors: Mitchell R. K. L. Lie, Janine van der Giessen, Gwenny M. Fuhler, Alison de Lima, Maikel P. Peppelenbosch, Cokkie van der Ent and C. Janneke van der Woude
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2018 16:55
  10. We investigated antitumor activity and underlying mechanisms of DNA topoisomerase I (TopI) inhibitor gimatecan and irinotecan in gastric cancer (GC) in vitro cell lines and in vivo patient-derived xenograft (P...

    Authors: Zuhua Chen, Zhentao Liu, Wenwen Huang, Zhongwu Li, Jianling Zou, Jingyuan Wang, Xiaoting Lin, Beifang Li, Dongshao Chen, Yanting Hu, Jiafu Ji, Jing Gao and Lin Shen
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2017 15:253
  11. About 10–15% of adult, and most pediatric, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) lack mutations in KIT, PDGFRA, SDHx, or RAS pathway components (KRAS, BRAF, NF1). The identification of additional mutated gene...

    Authors: Eileen Shi, Juliann Chmielecki, Chih-Min Tang, Kai Wang, Michael C. Heinrich, Guhyun Kang, Christopher L. Corless, David Hong, Katherine E. Fero, James D. Murphy, Paul T. Fanta, Siraj M. Ali, Martina De Siena, Adam M. Burgoyne, Sujana Movva, Lisa Madlensky…
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:339
  12. Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma (PACC) is a rare malignancy, accounting for <1 % of all pancreatic neoplasms. Very few retrospective studies are available to help guide management. We previously reported the ...

    Authors: Jason C. Hall, Laura A. Marlow, Adam C. Mathias, Louis K. Dawson, William F. Durham, Kenneth A. Meshaw, Robert J. Mullin, Aidan J. Synnott, Daniel L. Small, Murli Krishna, Daniel von Hoff, Julia Schüler, Steven N. Hart, Fergus J. Couch, Gerardo Colon-Otero and John A. Copland
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:129
  13. Leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is a common type of soft tissue sarcoma that responds poorly to standard chemotherapy. Thus the goal of this study was to identify novel selective therapies that may be effective in leiomy...

    Authors: Yael Babichev, Leah Kabaroff, Alessandro Datti, David Uehling, Methvin Isaac, Rima Al-awar, Michael Prakesch, Ren X. Sun, Paul C. Boutros, Rosemarie Venier, Brendan C. Dickson and Rebecca A. Gladdy
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2016 14:67
  14. Protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), a type II PRMT, is highly expressed in some tumors, but its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still unknown.

    Authors: Baolai Zhang, Shuhong Dong, Zhongxin Li, Li Lu, Su Zhang, Xue Chen, Xiaobo Cen and Yongjie Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:349
  15. The STAT3 transcription factor is a major intracellular signaling protein and is frequently dysregulated in the most common and lethal brain malignancy in adults, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Activation of ...

    Authors: Rajesh Mukthavaram, Xiao Ouyang, Rohit Saklecha, Pengfei Jiang, Natsuko Nomura, Sandeep C Pingle, Fang Guo, Milan Makale and Santosh Kesari
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:269
  16. Although targeted therapies have improved the clinical outcomes of cancer treatment, tumors resistance to targeted drug are often detected too late and cause mortality. CSE1L is secreted from tumor and its pho...

    Authors: Woan-Ruoh Lee, Shing-Chuan Shen, Yi-Hsien Shih, Chia-Lun Chou, Jonathan Te-Peng Tseng, Szu-Ying Chin, Kao-Hui Liu, Yen-Chou Chen and Ming-Chung Jiang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2015 13:191
  17. Ganglioglioma (GG) and pilocytic astrocytoma (PA) represent the most frequent low-grade gliomas (LGG) occurring in paediatric age. LGGs not amenable of complete resection (CR) represent a challenging subgroup ...

    Authors: Francesca del Bufalo, Andrea Carai, Lorenzo Figà-Talamanca, Benedetta Pettorini, Conor Mallucci, Felice Giangaspero, Manila Antonelli, Manuela Badiali, Loredana Moi, Giuseppe Bianco, Antonella Cacchione, Franco Locatelli, Elisabetta Ferretti and Angela Mastronuzzi
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2014 12:356
  18. Saliva has long been used as a sampling source for clinical diagnosis of oral disease such as oral squamous cell carcinoma, or therapeutic drug monitoring. The aims of this study was to ascertain if saliva RNA...

    Authors: Dongmei Chen, Najie Song, Runfang Ni, Jiangning Zhao, Jiasheng Hu, Quanyi Lu and Qingge Li
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2014 12:321
  19. The KRAS oncogene was one of the earliest discoveries of genetic alterations in colorectal and lung cancers. Moreover, KRAS somatic mutations might be used for predicting the efficiency of anti-EGFR therapeutic d...

    Authors: Ming-Yii Huang, Hsueh-Chiao Liu, Li-Chen Yen, Jia-Yuan Chang, Jian-Jhang Huang, Jaw-Yuan Wang, Chao-Peng Hsiao and Shiu-Ru Lin
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2014 12:147
  20. In the post-genomic era, it has become evident that genetic changes alone are not sufficient to understand most disease processes including pancreatic cancer. Genome sequencing has revealed a complex set of ge...

    Authors: Daniel Ansari, Linus Aronsson, Agata Sasor, Charlotte Welinder, Melinda Rezeli, György Marko-Varga and Roland Andersson
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2014 12:87
  21. Medulloepithelioma (ME) is a rare embryonal tumor predominantly located in the eye or in the central nervous system without an established treatment.

    Authors: Maria Debora De Pasquale, Maria Antonietta De Ioris, Angela Gallo, Angela Mastronuzzi, Alessandro Crocoli, Raffaele Cozza and Renata Boldrini
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2014 12:49
  22. PRL-3 is a member of phosphatases of regenerating liver family, characterized by phosphatase active domain and C-terminal prenylation motif. Overexpression of PRL-3 has been implicated in multiple cancers. Her...

    Authors: Xiaofang Xing, Shenyi Lian, Ying Hu, Ziyu Li, Lianhai Zhang, Xianzi Wen, Hong Du, Yongning Jia, Zhixue Zheng, Lin Meng, Chengchao Shou and Jiafu Ji
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:309

    The Erratum to this article has been published in Journal of Translational Medicine 2014 12:73

  23. Rho GTPases play important roles in cytoskeleton organization, cell cycle progression and are key regulators of tumor progression. Strategies to modulate increased Rho GTPase activities during cancer progressi...

    Authors: Karin Zins, Sandun Gunawardhana, Trevor Lucas, Dietmar Abraham and Seyedhossein Aharinejad
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:295
  24. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive clinical subtype of breast cancer that is characterized by the lack of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression as well as human ep...

    Authors: Birdal Bilir, Omer Kucuk and Carlos S Moreno
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:280
  25. Effective eradication of high-risk primary prostate cancer (HRPCa) could significantly decrease mortality from prostate cancer. However, the discovery of curative therapies for HRPCa is hampered by the lack of...

    Authors: Hongjuan Zhao, Alan Thong, Rosalie Nolley, Stephen W Reese, Jennifer Santos, Alexandre Ingels and Donna M Peehl
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:199
  26. Flotillin-2 (FLOT2) has been implicated in several signaling pathways in tumor cells. Our study aimed to investigate the expression pattern and clinicopathological significance of FLOT2 in patients with breast...

    Authors: Xi Wang, Qi Yang, Ling Guo, Xing-Hua Li, Xiao-Hui Zhao, Li-Bing Song and Huan-Xin Lin
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:190
  27. Risk of bias in translational medicine may take one of three forms: A. a systematic error of methodology as it pertains to measurement or sampling (e.g., selection bias), B. a systematic defect of design that ...

    Authors: Andre Barkhordarian, Peter Pellionisz, Mona Dousti, Vivian Lam, Lauren Gleason, Mahsa Dousti, Josemar Moura and Francesco Chiappelli
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:184
  28. Metallothionein 2A (MT2A) as a stress protein, plays a protective role in gastric mucosal barrier. Its role in the development of gastric cancer (GC) is unclear. The mechanism of MT2A will be investigated in g...

    Authors: Yuanming Pan, Jiaqiang Huang, Rui Xing, Xin Yin, Jiantao Cui, Wenmei Li, Jun Yu and Youyong Lu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:173
  29. Patient-derived tumor xenograft models have been established and increasingly used for preclinical studies of targeted therapies in recent years. However, patient-derived non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) xen...

    Authors: Xu-chao Zhang, Jingchuan Zhang, Ming Li, Xiao-sui Huang, Xue-ning Yang, Wen-zhao Zhong, Liang Xie, Lin Zhang, Minhua Zhou, Paul Gavine, Xinying Su, Li Zheng, Guanshan Zhu, Ping Zhan, Qunsheng Ji and Yi-long Wu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:168
  30. The long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) study has gradually become one of the hot topics in the field of RNA biology. One lncRNA which has attracted attention is LOC285194, a lncRNA demonstrated the potential tumor...

    Authors: Peng Qi, Mi-die Xu, Shu-juan Ni, Dan Huang, Ping Wei, Cong Tan, Xiao-yan Zhou and Xiang Du
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:122
  31. Basigin, which has four isoforms, has been demonstrated to be involved in progression of various human cancers. The aim of this study was to examine the prognostic value of basigin-2 protein expression in epit...

    Authors: Shu-Hua Zhao, Yu Wang, Li Wen, Zhen-Bo Zhai, Zhen-Hua Ai, Nian-Ling Yao, Li Wang, Wen-Chao Liu, Bi-Liang Chen, Yu Li and Hong Yang
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:92
  32. Tumors of the head and neck present aggressive pathological behavior in patients due to high expression of CDK/CCND1 proteins. P276-00, a novel CDK inhibitor currently being tested in clinic, inhibits growth o...

    Authors: Prabha B Mishra, Aurelio S Lobo, Kalpana S Joshi, Maggie J Rathos, Gopinath A Kumar and Muralidhara Padigaru
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:42
  33. TOP2A encodes for topoisomerase IIα, a nuclear enzyme that controls DNA topological structure and cell cycle progression. This enzyme is a marker of cell proliferation in normal and neoplastic tissues; however, l...

    Authors: Marina França de Resende, Samantha Vieira, Ludmilla Thomé Domingos Chinen, Francesco Chiappelli, Francisco Paulo da Fonseca, Gustavo Cardoso Guimarães, Fernando Augusto Soares, Ivan Neves, Simone Pagotty, Peter A Pellionisz, Andre Barkhordarian, Xenia Brant and Rafael Malagoli Rocha
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:36
  34. We describe the long-term outcome after clinical introduction and dose escalation of somatostatin receptor targeted therapy with [90Y-DOTA]-TOC in patients with metastasized neuroendocrine tumors.

    Authors: Nicolas Marincek, Ann-Catherine Jörg, Philippe Brunner, Christian Schindler, Michael T Koller, Christoph Rochlitz, Jan Müller-Brand, Helmut R Maecke, Matthias Briel and Martin A Walter
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:17
  35. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive brain tumor with poor clinical outcome. Identification and development of new markers could be beneficial for the diagnosis and prognosis of GBM ...

    Authors: Shuwei Qiu, Sheng Lin, Dan Hu, Yimin Feng, Yang Tan and Ying Peng
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:10
  36. Animal models of human inflammatory diseases have limited predictive quality for human clinical trials for various reasons including species specific activation mechanisms and the immunological background of t...

    Authors: Maryam Zadeh-Khorasani, Thomas Nolte, Thomas D Mueller, Markos Pechlivanis, Franziska Rueff, Andreas Wollenberg, Gert Fricker, Eckhard Wolf, Matthias Siebeck and Roswitha Gropp
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2013 11:4
  37. Enhancer of zeste homologue 2 (EZH2) is a polycomb group (PcG) family protein. Acting as a histone methyltransferase it plays crucial roles in maintaining epigenetic stem cell signature, while its deregulation...

    Authors: Yi-Che Changchien, Péter Tátrai, Gergő Papp, Johanna Sápi, László Fónyad, Miklós Szendrői, Zsuzsanna Pápai and Zoltán Sápi
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2012 10:216
  38. Melanoma antigen D1 (MAGED1) is a member of the type II melanoma antigen (MAGE) family. The down-regulation of MAGED1 expression has been shown in breast carcinoma cell lines and in glioma stem cells and may p...

    Authors: Zhao-lei Zeng, Wen-jing Wu, Jing Yang, Zhen-jie Tang, Dong-liang Chen, Miao-zhen Qiu, Hui-yan Luo, Zhi-qiang Wang, Ying Jin, De-shen Wang and Rui-hua Xu
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2012 10:181
  39. Vulvar carcinomas are rare tumors, and there is limited data regarding molecular alterations. To our knowledge there are no published studies on c-KIT and squamous cell carcinomas of the vulva (VSCC). Although...

    Authors: Beatriz de Melo Maia, André Mourão Lavorato-Rocha, Iara Sant’Ana Rodrigues, Glauco Baiocchi, Flávia Munhoz Cestari, Monica Maria Stiepcich, Ludmila Thomé Domingues Chinen, Kátia C Carvalho, Fernando Augusto Soares and Rafael Malagoli Rocha
    Citation: Journal of Translational Medicine 2012 10:150

Annual Journal Metrics