Viral and Bacterial Infections in Older Adults: From Mechanisms to Therapies
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (22 February 2024) | Viewed by 283
Special Issue Editor
Interests: nutrition; inflammation; aging; trace elements; mineral; epigenetic
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
As individuals grow older, their immune system may weaken, leaving them more vulnerable to infections caused by bacteria and viruses. In older adults, bacterial infections frequently affect the respiratory and urinary tracts, while viral infections can lead to complications such as pneumonia and flu-like symptoms.
Despite significant advancements in therapeutic approaches to counteract viral and bacterial infections in recent years, there remains a lack of understanding about how both types of infections affect the cellular transcriptomic profile, as well as the quantitative and qualitative cellular protein patterns. Furthermore, there is a knowledge gap regarding the modifications in cellular pathways, including apoptosis, autophagy, immune response, and unfolded protein response, caused by viral or bacterial infections, and how these changes may impact the severity of the infection.
Early and accurate diagnosis of infection is crucial for improving patient outcomes, reducing antibiotic resistance, and targeting therapy effectively. Therefore, it is essential to advance technologies and bioinformatics to better understand the interactions between viruses, bacteria, and their hosts.
Omics approaches, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, can provide valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of bacterial and viral infections in older adults. These approaches can help identify key molecular pathways and biomarkers associated with immune dysfunction, inflammation, and susceptibility to infections. By uncovering the underlying mechanisms, omics approaches can aid in the development of more effective diagnostic tools and therapies for older adults with bacterial and viral infections.
This Special Issue plans to give an overview of the most recent advances in the mechanisms of action and innovative therapies against viral and bacterial infections in older adults.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic alterations after viral and bacterial infections;
- Targeting viral and bacterial infection severity through omics approaches;
- Viral and bacterial infections in frailty and multimorbidity;
- Targeting the response to therapy after interventions against viral and bacterial infections through omics approaches;
- Viral and bacterial infections in aging with/without age-related diseases.
Dr. Francesco Piacenza
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- aging
- viral infections
- bacterial infections
- transcriptomics
- epigenomics
- genomics
- diagnostic biomarkers
- prognostic biomarkers
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