Immune Cell Migration and Vaccination

Dear Colleagues,

Vaccination has been proven to be one of the most powerful achievements for human health. Nevertheless, the current pandemic shows that new infectious threats for mankind can enter the stage anytime, with unforeseeable dynamics and impact. Therefore, we need to understand better how effective vaccines elicit protective and long-lasting immunity. In the case of systemic infectious diseases, different layers of the immune system are challenged in different tissues. The information about an invading pathogen needs to be disseminated throughout the body, for instance, by cells of the innate immune system, without causing harm. Adaptive immunity requires the transformation of this information through the refined spatial and temporal coordination of migrating immune cells. Henceforth, the establishment of immunity depends crucially on the ability of immune cells to migrate and to communicate systemically. The failure of appropriate migration can lead to immunodeviation or immunodeficiency. Besides inducing humoral immunity via the controlled exit of memory and plasma cells from germinal centers, efficient antiviral vaccines also need to elicit memory T cell responses. Recent progress has been made in identifying general mechanisms of B cell germinal center exit and the localization of memory T cells. Memory B cells, memory plasma cells, and memory T cells migrate to protective tissue niches, forming tissue-resident memory. Eventually, memory cells encounter an antigen for a second time, which leads to their engagement in secondary immune responses in different microanatomic structures in various organs. We propose that a multifaceted view of the role of immune cell migration and specific anatomical structures, as well as of new techniques, will aid in better understanding the establishment of protective immunity. This may assist us during the current and potential future challenges.

We invite you to contribute manuscripts containing original data or review articles expressing your opinion about the role of immune cell migration during vaccination and long-lasting immunity and how manipulation of cytoskeletal elements may deviate—or speed up—immune responses.

Prof. Dr. Dirk Mielenz
Prof. Dr. Anja Erika Hauser
Guest Editors

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• Vaccination
• B lymphocyte
• T lymphocyte
• dendritic cell
• inflammation
• migration
• lymph node
• blood vessel
• cytoskeleton
• intravital imaging