Dear Colleagues,

Despite the advancements in healthcare and improvements in public health, infectious diseases remain a significant driver of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The immune system protects us from infection through an elaborate network of cells and tissues that work in concert to deter invading pathogens. Understanding the immune responses to pathogens, the mechanisms through which they are recognized and attacked, and their strategies to escape from the immune response is crucial for drug and vaccine design. Infectious agents can be divided into several categories, namely intracellular or extracellular bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. The agents’ invasion elicits different protective immune responses, which are triggered by the innate and adaptive immune systems, to efficiently eliminate the infectious agents. Notably, host variables, including age, gender, and comorbidity, may affect the immune response and influence each of these interactions. Also, host’s immune biomarkers can be utilized to predict disease severity and outcomes during infections, aid in the selection of therapeutic approaches, and evaluate the efficacy of novel immunotherapy and vaccine strategies. It is also known that many types of pathogens can trigger or exacerbate autoimmune diseases, promoting the activation and clonal proliferation of autoreactive T and B lymphocytes that are crucial for the development of an autoimmune disease.

Hence, the overall goal of this Special Issue is to expand our knowledge of the innate and adaptive immune responses directed against the different types of pathogens and to provide new insights into the current understanding of the immune pathogenesis of infectious diseases and immune evasion mechanisms. A more in-depth evaluation of the influence of age, gender, and comorbidities on the immune system primed to combat an invading infectious agent, and a thorough analysis of the consequences of a pre-existing immune dysregulation are warranted, offering data and information to optimize therapeutic approach and vaccination strategy. Studies involving the topic of infectious disease immunology could fill gaps in various aspects of infectious disease diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic approaches.

We welcome the submissions of Original Research, Review, Case report, and Perspective articles.

Dr. Sonia Moretti
Guest Editor

Manuscripts should be submitted via our online editorial system at https://www.discovmed.com/Journalx_dm/authorLogOn.action by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to start your submission. Manuscripts can be submitted now or up until the deadline. All papers will go through peer-review process. Accepted papers will be published in the journal (as soon as accepted) and meanwhile listed together on the special issue website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts will be thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. Please visit the Instruction for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted manuscripts should be well formatted in good English.