Recent Developments in the Biology of Extracellular or Cell-Free DNA, 2nd Edition
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 30
Special Issue Editor
Interests: extracellular mitochondrial DNA; endogenous and exogenous deoxyribonuclease; trauma-induced immunomodulation; neutrophil extracellular traps; the role of neutrophil activation in rheumatoid arthritis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Following a very successful first edition, we are pleased to announce the launch of the second edition of this Special Issue entitled “Recent Developments in the Biology of Extracellular or Cell-Free DNA, 2nd Edition”.
Extracellular DNA (EcDNA) is often called cell-free DNA; however, in vivo, it is everything but cell-free. It interacts with various immunocompetent cells and eventually induces inflammation. Inflammation, especially the activation of neutrophils, leads to the release of ecDNA and more inflammation. While the diagnostic applications for non-invasive prenatal screening and for cancer screening are moving towards use in clinical routine, the biology of ecDNA is still understudied. In plasma, DNA from both nuclei and mitochondria contributes to the whole ecDNA pool, although they differ in their stability, fragment length, and also immunogenicity. Recent advances in epigenetic analyses have enabled the possibility of revealing the tissues or cell types that contribute to plasma ecDNA. However, many questions remain unsolved. What is the fate and what are the effects of ecDNA protected by histones, antimicrobial peptides, or other positively charged molecules? Is mitochondrial DNA quickly cleared by deoxyribonucleases or does it contribute to the effects of extracellular mitochondria as a damage-associated molecular pattern? Does the fragmentation of ecDNA affect its immunogenicity? What are the effects of degradation products of ecDNA cleavage?
We invite contributions in the form of reviews, research articles, communications, and concept papers.
Dr. Peter Celec
Guest Editor
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. Biomolecules 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.
Keywords
- neutrophil extracellular traps
- DNase
- toll-like receptor 9
- exosomes
- autoimmunity
