Review Papers on Physiological and Pathophysiological Implications of the Cell Microenvironment

Dear Colleagues,

Under the section "Cell Microenvironment", this Special Issue aims to publish high-quality review articles within the field of the cell microenvironment. We kindly encourage all research groups covering relevant areas within the section's scope to contribute up-to-date, full-length comprehensive reviews, highlighting the latest developments in their research field, or to invite relevant experts and colleagues to do so.

Distinguished researchers from all over the world will be invited to contribute to this Special Issue. Potential contributors/invited authors are kindly asked to submit a tentative title and a short abstract to our Editorial Office ([email protected]) for pre-evaluation. All papers will be published on an ongoing basis, with full open access, after thorough and rigorous peer review.

From the initial zygote formation, cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix interactions control the full developmental process. The regulated cell microenvironment is essential for tissue development and tissue homeostasis, and any alterations of these functional interactions can lead to specific diseases. The germ layers contribute to the elaboration of fully functional organs after complex and tightly regulated cell migration, interaction, and differentiation, as shown for the neural tube. Such interactions are mandatory for the control of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation programs. In pathological contexts, the cell microenvironment can be altered. In embryos, the disturbance of cell interactions results in modified cell polarity and/or migration and pathological ectoderm, mesoderm or endoderm differentiation. In cancer, the tumor microenvironment becomes permissive and leads to impaired immune infiltration, facilitating tumor vascularization, growth and spread. In autoimmune diseases, the disturbance of immune cell properties leads to the specific recognition of the host tissues by the immune cells. Hence, a better characterization of the cell microenvironment in a pathophysiological context may deliver better insight into tissue development and into the development of new therapeutic strategies. This necessitates the use of relevant cell models and culture conditions, better recapitulating the biology in vivo. This Special Issue will examine the most recent insights in the cell microenvironment in the main embryonic development steps, in the homeostasis of growing and adult tissues, and in pathological contexts such as cancer or autoimmune diseases.

Dr. Frédéric Lézot
Prof. Dr. Dominique Heymann
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cell microenvironment
• cell migration
• cell differentiation
• cell proliferation
• immune infiltrate
• development
• homeostasis
• tumor microenvironment
• autoimmune diseases
• therapeutic development