Tumours and Leukocyte Research in Livestock and Companion Animals

Dear colleagues,

Since the proper functioning of the immune system is critical for survival, the study of immunology is a matter of great importance. Unfortunately, the immune system can malfunction and incorrectly identify self-antigens, harmless food, or every-day substances as targets, leading to autoimmune diseases and allergies. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the dysfunction of the host's immune system represents one of the major mechanisms by which tumors evade immunosurveillance. The immune system interacts with tumors over the entire process of disease development, progression, and metastasis. This complex cross-talk between immune cells and cancer tissue can both inhibit and enhance tumor progression. Hence, current immunology research in livestock and company animals should concentrate on revealing weak points of the immune response. Leukocytes function as crucial elements of the immune system, which is why learning leukocyte biology in animals is extremely important. Identifying leukocyte heterogeneity in animals and the characterization of their novel mechanisms of action can shed new light on the roles of leukocyte subsets in many diseases and cancers.

The topics of the Special Issue will cover, but are not limited to, leukocyte biology, leukocyte antigens, tumor biology, and associations between immune cell profiles and the progress of diseases and cancers. Moreover, we seek to address the issues of leukocytes in autoimmune diseases and allergies, microbiota regulation of leukocyte maturation and functioning in animals, leukocyte response during tumorigenesis, and tumor-infiltrating leukocytes (TILs). This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of recent advances in the above areas in livestock and company animals.

Dr. Urszula Lisiecka
Dr. Dorota Pietras-Ożga
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals 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 2400 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.