Interactions between Pathogens and the Human Immune System

Dear Colleagues,

Interactions between microbes and the immune response form a complex and dynamic process of host–microbe interactions (HMI). The interplay between microbes and the immune response is critical in determining a successful eradication of pathogen or the development/progression of disease.

The microbiome comprises bacteria, viruses, bacteriophages and fungi, persisting within nearly every human body site, including tissues and blood. Many components of this microbiome are capable of both commensal and pathogenic activity.  Commensals play an important role in immune homeostasis and tolerance. Understanding mechanistic aspects of HMIs has been a major challenge, because of the many factors that influence them, including antimicrobials, diet, environment and genotype.  Furthermore, a lack of access to tissues and organs has been a major obstacle to study HMIs in humans. However, to overcome such limitations, progress has been made to develop organoids to study the interactions of microbes and components of the immune system (e.g., skin, gastrointestinal tract, lymph nodes, etc.) in health and diseases. 

A number of disease states have been tied to an imbalance or dysbiosis of microbial ecosystems and the interaction with the immune system. Furthermore, certain monogenic defects of inborn errors of immunity render hosts susceptible to unique infections. The area of “therapeutic microbes” is expanding. Therapeutic microbes have many favorable traits, such as consisting of live cells, having self-renewal abilities, being unlikely to induce resistance, employing broad mechanisms to inhibit pathogens, being pathogen-specific and inducing minimal side effects. These include probiotics, fecal microbiota transplants and a defined consortium comprising cultures of pure or mixed bacteria and/or fungi. For this Special Issue of Pathogens, we invite original manuscripts and reviews relating host–microbial interactions.

Prof. Dr. Sudhir Gupta
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. Pathogens 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 2200 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.

• microbiome
• therapeutic microbes
• gut microbiota
• skin microbiota
• host–microbe interactions