Novel Anticancer Leads and Probes

Despite over a century of research cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality globally with its burden of disease projected to increase over the next two decades. Current cancer therapeutics suffer from a narrow therapeutic index, limited specificity and the risk of multidrug resistance. We remain a long way away from finding that ‘magic bullet’ to treat cancer. To help move us further towards that treatment, BMC Chemistry has launched this collection on Noval Anticancer Leads and Probes. It aims to showcase research on synthesis, computational studies, structure-activity relationships and molecular mechanism of action of novel antitumor drugs. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: • Antitumor drugs targeting tubulin and microtubules • PARP inhibitors • Drugs targeting p53 • Inhibitors of cancer-relevant kinases (e.g. Aurora kinases, FLT3, ChK1 and ChK2) • Drugs acting on apoptotic signalling pathways • HSP-90 inhibitors • Dual-acting anticancer drugs • Development of highly selective probes for proteins relevant to cancer • Anticancer drugs acting via reactive oxygen species • Anticancer drugs acting via the immune system • Natural anticancer compounds • Prodrug-based anticancer agents • Precision medicine Contributions to this issue could be in the form of both original research and review articles.