About this Research Topic

Background

Human adenoviruses (hAdVs) are associated with gastroenteritis, conjunctivitis, respiratory and urinary tract infections which in general have low clinical relevance. However, they can cause serious morbidity in immunocompromised patients. In addition, some mutant or intertypic recombinant serotypes can also cause outbreaks of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). There is no efficient treatment for adenovirus infections approved so far. Remarkably, adenoviruses are the most widely used vectors in the clinical gene therapy field, with applications ranging from oncolytic therapies to vaccinations. Therefore, exploring the infection and immune mechanism of adenovirus and engineering more ideal adenovirus vectors for the treatment of tumor and other diseases are both very important in basic research and biotechnologies in microbiology.

Although the adenovirus has been found for almost 70 years and many of its basic properties have been discovered, some important molecular mechanisms such as the infection and innate immunity in epithelial cells, immune cells and hematopoietic stem cells still need to be entirely characterized. In addition, interactions between adenovirus and host factors and the antiviral immunity in vivo remain yet unrevealed. Adenovirus vector-based gene therapy shows broad application potentials. However, nanomedicine based on adenovirus vectors has defects of low targeting ability and high immunogenicity, which led to its low therapeutic effect in metastatic cancers or cardiovascular diseases requiring intravascular delivery. Many groups are working on the modification of the natural properties of adenoviruses to turn them into better tools for gene transfer, oncolytic virotherapy, or vaccines. Increased knowledge of adenovirus biology, especially mechanisms in its infection and immunity, will help to develop novel strategies to improve its tissue targeting and therapeutic activity.

This Research Topic will welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Opinion and Perspective discussing the following topics but not limited to:
• Adenovirus epidemiology
• Structure and cellular receptors for adenovirus
• Entry, trafficking and replication
• Innate and adaptive immunity
• Gene delivery, vaccine and oncolytic vector
• Non-human adenoviruses

Keywords: adenovirus, infection, immunity, adenoviral vector, gene therapy

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