Dear Colleagues:
From all of us at Cancer Prevention Research (CaPR), we wish you, our esteemed readers and contributors, a Happy New Year! As always, CaPR will strive to publish high-impact papers of central relevance to our readers. Inspired by the Special Report in this issue (1), here is a glimpse of just a few of our 2016 offerings:
Following our recently completed Immunoprevention series, we will publish reviews on this and the related topics of inflammation and infection:
Vaccines targeting telomerase for BRCA mutation carriers by Robert Vonderheide;
Inflammation and B-cell subsets that drive cancer development by Michael Karin;
Molecular risk stratification and early detection of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer by Maura Gillison;
Immune system influence on inflammatory bowel disease and cancer by William Sandborn and Samir Gupta, and
High-throughput sequencing of microbiomes and cancer by Karen Nelson and J. Craig Venter.
To further highlight and catalyze precision prevention, CaPR will publish the “Pre-cancer Genome Atlas (PCGA)” by Avi Spira in the next issue and launch a “Molecular Basis of Premalignancy” series edited by Spira and Ignacio Wistuba, including:
Premalignant lung lesions and the molecular “field of injury” by the series editors,
Early pathogenesis and the elusive premalignant prostate lesion by Angelo De Marzo and William Nelson,
Genomics of mucinous cysts and early detection of pancreatic cancer by Anirban Maitra and Sam Gambhir, and
Clonal hematopoiesis as a premalignant state by Rafael Bejar and Benjamin Ebert.
We will also publish commentaries in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science, the application of what we already know, which will be essential to further progress in cancer prevention. More than 50% of cancers are preventable through lifestyle modifications. Later this year, CaPR will publish a call to arms commentary “Accelerating Cancer Prevention” from Graham Colditz and Karen Emmons on this important topic, including the “other half” of cancers—beyond the lifestyle-associated types (prostate, brain, lympho-hematologic). Victor Vogel, Leslie Ford, and Powel Brown will address the durable benefit and under-use of tamoxifen (and related agents) for prevention in women with atypical hyperplasia of the breast, which can reduce breast cancer risk by approximately 75% in this subset whose absolute risk of invasive cancer is 30% at 25 years, very similar to women carrying a BRCA germline mutation. Heather Hampel and Albert de la Chapelle will discuss the public health benefits of promoting universal tumor screening for Lynch syndrome (cancers prevented, lives saved), which despite being cost-effective and recommended by several professional organizations, including the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, uptake is far from universal.
Continuing our record of publishing future-directed perspectives, William Hait and Peter Lebowitz will co-author a commentary providing an industry perspective on “Cancer Interception,” a term coined by Elizabeth Blackburn in CaPR (2). You should also watch for John Groopman's multiauthor (with David Brenner, Anna Mae Diehl, Claude Sirlin, and Rohit Loomba) and multidiscipline (biology, imaging, prevention, disparities) provocative review, “The Silence of the Liver,” reflecting the damaging premalignant biology (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH) that occurs long before liver cancer, the fastest-rising epithelial cancer in the United States.
To further highlight this field, CaPR will facilitate D&I of the best prevention science in the coming years. For manuscripts judged to be in the top 15% of our submissions by our reviewers and editors, the following enhancements are being offered:
Waiver of publication charges,
Fast track to publication, and
Open access immediately upon publication for these articles.
CaPR will also offer artist-rendered graphic support, including graphically enhanced page layout as well as color figure assistance and support (see Fig. 1 of the Special Report in this issue; ref. 1) to high-priority articles identified by the Editor-in-Chief. To extend the visibility and reach of these selected articles, the AACR will use a variety of marketing channels to raise awareness of this content, including web marketing, social media, targeted emails, and print distribution.
CaPR is increasingly becoming an international journal receiving submissions from 33 countries outside the United States, representing 50% of total submissions to the Journal last year. Submissions from China, in particular, represented 39% of non-U.S. submissions to CaPR. To assist these authors, we have appointed Zigang Dong, based in the United States and China, as an International Senior Editor to assist in the initial evaluation of manuscripts from China.
To increase the awareness, scope, and profile of our cutting-edge reviews, we are delighted to announce that Waun Ki Hong will be the new Reviews Editor. Building on our clinical trials track record, Eva Szabo is spearheading a new series outlining the clinical agent development plans of the NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention ranging from repurposed drugs to viral and non-viral vaccines. Readers are also welcomed to submit concepts for additional topics or series to the Editor-in-Chief.
On behalf of all of the editors of CaPR, we thank you, our valued readers and contributors, for your continued support and welcome your contributions that will define the future of cancer prevention.
With best wishes for 2016,
Scott M. Lippman, MD
Editor-in-Chief