In this collection we highlight a selection of articles from 2023, which top the list of the journal’s most cited, downloaded and most shared (including press coverage, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Weibo). The articles showcase the breadth of scope and coverage that the journal consistently delivers to its readers.

In line with the UN Sustainable Development Goal to Reduce Inequalities (SDG10), this collection aims to bring together articles enhancing our understanding of cancer health disparities across the different dimensions of inequality research. There are many expanding fields of health inequalities research but this collection will include articles examining disproportionate cancer burdens in populations such as: rural-urban, gender/sexual, racial/ethnic, religious minority and socioeconomic status groups, and of course any group where health inequality needs to be addressed. This wider collection builds upon our existing collections more specifically focused on Racial and ethnic disparities in cancer and Racial and ethnic disparities in cancer in the US We are building an ongoing knowledge base of content from across all oncology journals to increase the discoverability of articles in this important research area. Thus, we call for new contributions to this collection and invite you to read recent research below.

The Institute of Medicine defines disparities as “racial or ethnic differences in the quality of health care that are not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences, and appropriateness of intervention.” This was certainly well demonstrated in the recent COVID pandemic where there were marked differences in morbidity and mortality in minority groups. These inequalities occur in all age groups and diseases compared to non-minorities. A disproportionate number of cancer deaths occur among racial and ethnic minorities in most Western countries. The causes have been extensively investigated and highlighted, and include a wide range of intersecting problems. Thus, the system itself, access to the system, communication, nutrition, education, housing, job stability, trust amongst others. Many extensive reviews have been published but if anything the problems are becoming worse with a decrease in standard of living, health care budgets and education. In this collection we publish a range of original research and reviews from the British Journal of Cancer, Leukemia and Blood Cancer Journal highlighting the problems and suggesting solutions to some of these issues. The editors welcome future submissions to expand this collection further.

Cancer therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T-cells is one of the most exciting recent developments in cancer therapy. To date CAR-T-cells have been successfully used to treat persons with hematologic cancers, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), lymphomas and plasma cell myeloma (PCM). Although most studies are in persons with advanced lymphomas, some controversial data suggest CAR-T-cell therapy might replace autologous hematopoietic cell transplants in persons failing conventional therapies. The CAR-T-cell constructs are directed against lineage-related targets such as CD19 and CD20. Although studies of using CAR-T-cells to treat other hematologic cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and solid cancers are progressing, these targets have proved more elusive and no CAR-T-cell therapy is yet approved. In this collection we include key research published in the journals Leukemia, Blood Cancer Journal, Cancer Gene Therapy, Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology and Medical Oncology. The editors welcome future submissions to expand this collection further.

See what readers worldwide have been citing and sharing. In this Web Focus we highlight a selection of articles from 2021, which top the list of the journal’s most cited, downloaded and most shared (including press coverage, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Weibo). They showcase the breadth of scope and coverage that the journal consistently delivers to its readers.

Physicians in practice need immediate point-of-care management references that are simple, up-to-date and succinctly presented in a one-page format. BCJ Current Treatment Algorithms address this need. Manuscripts published in this series will be concise and illustrative, with the recommended treatment strategy for a blood cancer presented in a flowchart alongside a critical review of the treatment algorithm. Articles in this series are written by leading experts in the field, and are free of commercial bias. Unlike some traditional practice guidelines and pathways which often provide a list of possible options for treatment, Current Treatment Algorithms provide highly specific recommendations for the management of a hematologic malignancy, which have been derived from an expert appraisal of the available literature. If you are interested in submitting a manuscript to the Current Treatment Algorithms series, please send a brief proposal to the Editors-in-Chief. Articles in this series should not have any involvement of medical writing companies, and authors should have no significant financial conflicts of interest in the relevant field.

Since its discovery as part of the adaptive immune system in bacteria, CRISPR-Cas9 has become an invaluable tool for genome editing with the potential to transform cancer therapies. The ability to alter specific bases in DNA enables comprehensive examination of molecular pathways and the part they play in cancer with incomparable resolution. The technology is also routinely applied in cancer modelling where it enables the production of faithful models of disease, capturing the specific molecular aberrancies of different cancers. As a therapy, CRISPR-Cas9 has demonstrated promises ex vivo, in oncolytic viruses and immunotherapies; however its use in vivo is also being explored by targeting genes essential for cancer cell viability, promoting apoptosis or cell cycle arrest in tumours and thereby improve patients’ survival. Overall, CRISPR-Cas9 technology has greatly advanced cancer research and has the potential to immensely transform cancer therapies. The below collection of articles represents key research in this area published in the journals Oncogene, Oncogenesis, Leukemia, Blood Cancer Journal and Cancer Gene Therapy. The editors welcome future submissions to expand this collection further.

The advent and validation of immune checkpoint inhibitors targeting the T cell receptors PD1 and CTLA have been 'game changers' in clinical cancer therapy. Initially approved for melanoma, lung cancer, and kidney cancer these therapies have now gained substantial inroads in a diversity of tumor types as first or second-line therapy and promise to extend the lives of millions of more cancer patients. However, there is critical ongoing research attempting to optimize the therapeutic utility of these agents. Current investigations include analysis of tumor molecular profiles most apt to respond to specific checkpoint immunotherapy regimens, optimal timing of treatment and combination with chemotherapy, radiation, and molecularly targeted anti-cancer agents, and the potential to enhance responsiveness of checkpoint inhibition with concurrent use of novel therapies targeting innate or adaptive immunity. Research in all these areas has exploded at both the clinical and experimental levels. As such, these burgeoning reports comprise a valued addition and are a new cornerstone in Springer Nature's topical online collections in cancer research. The editors of the journals Oncogene, Blood Cancer Journal, Leukemia and Cancer Gene Therapy welcome future submissions to expand this collection further.

Metastatic cancer is ultimately resistant to virtually all systemic therapies and continues to kill more than 10 million people per year around the world. This suggests a common mechanism for cancer resistance that evolves in millions of people each year, regardless of the instigating carcinogens, suite of mutations present in the tumor, or the tissue of origin. This therapeutic resistance has classically been attributed to genetic tumor cell heterogeneity that develops by stochastic chance, fueled by aneuploidy and genetic instability. In this classic view, resistance to each different therapy requires that the appropriate mutations that confer the different versions of resistance are acquired by at least one cell. Newer models have found potential evidence for the gradual, multifactorial adaptation to the inhibitors through acquisition of multiple cooperating genetic and epigenetic adaptive changes of multiple partially resistant clones as well as the presence of cancer stem cells in which a rare therapy-resistant population of cancer stem cells give rise to a recurrent, resistant population. The below collection of articles published in the journals Oncogene, Leukemia, Blood Cancer Journal, Oncogenesis, Cancer Gene Therapy and Clinical & Experimental Metastasis explore how treatment resistance arises in cancer. The editors welcome future submissions on this topic to expand this collection further.

See what readers world-wide have been citing and sharing. In this Web Focus we highlight a selection of articles from 2020, which top the list of the journal’s most cited, downloaded and most shared (including press coverage, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Weibo). They showcase the breadth of scope and coverage that the journal consistently delivers to its readers.

The last few years has seen growing interest in the function of epigenetics in cancer initiation and progression. A growing volume of work now underpins our understanding of the role of these non-genetic modifications in the molecular biology of disease initiation and metastatic spread, and how modulating the cell’s epigenetics may be used as a therapeutic strategy. This collection of articles picked by the Editors from Leukemia, Oncogene, the British Journal of Cancer and Blood Cancer Journal, provides you with a snapshot of current epigenetic research in both haematological and solid cancers.