Innate Immunity and Inflammatory Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Innate immunity serves as the frontline defense against pathogenic infections and is characterized by its non-specificity and absence of immunological memory. It not only provides a quick, generalized immune response to intruding pathogens but also helps in activating a more specialized immune response (adaptive immune response). While an effective innate immune response is important to prevent infectious diseases, recent research increasingly highlights its overactivation and associated signaling pathways in the development of numerous inflammatory and chronic diseases of non-auto immunogenic origin. Typically, localized injury or tissue damage triggers the activation of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) through the release of damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Recognition of these DAMPs by PRRs on innate immune cells (neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, mast cells and basophils) instigates the transcriptional induction of several inflammatory cytokines, interferons, and other potent mediators of inflammation. Dysregulated activation of innate immune signaling not only stimulates the adaptive immune system but also exacerbates inflammation over prolonged periods, leading to chronic tissue damage. Despite the considerable attention given to its role in autoimmune disease pathogenesis, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying these patterns of innate immune signaling and their specific links to disease pathology in non-auto immune diseases remain poorly defined. This Special Issue aims to encourage authors to publish their work pertaining to the molecular mechanisms of innate immune cell activation in various types of inflammatory diseases, as well as to investigate the molecular mechanisms governing the behavior and function of innate immune cells in the context of inflammation.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Molecular mechanisms governing innate immune response in sterile inflammation.

• Activation, signalling and targeting of toll like receptors (TLRs) in inflammatory diseases.

• The role of innate immune cell signaling pathways, such as the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) stimulator of interferon genes (STING), retinoic acid-inducible gene (RIG-1)- melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5), mitochondrial antiviral-signaling protein (MAVS) pathway, and NLR family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation, in various inflammatory diseases.

• Regulation and signalling of interferon response to inflammation and tissue injury.

• Differential activation and contribution of tissue-resident and infiltrating innate immune cells to the tissue injury and repair.

• Mechanism of innate immune and inflammatory response to retrotransposons.

• Epigenetic and transcriptional regulation of innate immune cell signalling pathways.

• Strategies to exploit the innate immune system for cancer immunotherapy and other chronic inflammatory diseases.

• Macrophage efferocytosis in inflammation resolution.

Dr. Veera Ganesh Yerra
Dr. Santosh Reddy Sukka
Dr. Anil Kumar Kalvala
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. Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.

• innate immunity
• inflammation
• immunotherapy
• immune cells
• inflammatory diseases