About this Research Topic
Depending on the dose and route of exposure, environmental toxicants and natural toxins have the potential to exhibit profound effects on the immune system ranging from immunosuppression to immunostimulation. Through both direct and indirect mechanisms, environmental toxicants have been shown to alter disease outcomes for key public health issues including allergy, autoimmunity, immunosuppression, neoplasms, and susceptibility to infectious diseases. Therefore, understanding how environmental toxicants and natural toxins influence the development, homeostasis, and/or function of the immune system is essential for realizing and maintaining optimal health.
In the last two decades, the field of Immunotoxicology has made significant progress, resulting in not only an improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying toxicant-mediated alterations in immune function but also providing critical insights into fundamental aspects of immunobiology. Detailed characterization of the immune system organization and responses totoxicants and natural toxins in a highly diverse group of species will provide broader context, as well as contributing to better explain the evolutionary fate of the immune system in response to such stressors. Moreover, immunotoxicological studies of wild and domesticated animals have proven to be an invaluable resource for understanding the role toxicants and natural toxins play in agriculture, aquaculture, ecology, and conservation. As rates of environmental pollution continue to rise across the globe, Immunotoxicology studies have become more urgent and relevant than ever before.
We aim to present a broad collection of manuscripts that highlight recent advances and future trends in Immunotoxicology in animals. This Research Topic will provide an overview of research encompassing diverse toxicants and toxins, model organisms, immune organs, and functional endpoints. By presenting work from diverse phyla, we intend to highlight the similarities and differences in toxicant-mediated immune alterations (or resistance to these alterations) across species. We welcome the submission of Original Research, Reviews, and Perspectives articles focusing on, but not limited to the following sub-topics:
• Immunological biomarkers for environmental toxicants
• Effects of toxicants and natural toxins on innate and/or adaptive immune system
• Modulation of immunological tolerance
• Immunological exhaustion under chronic exposure
• Impact on the immune system by perturbation of microbial commensals
• Autoimmune disease, allergy, cancer, infectious disease, and other immune-mediated
diseases.
• Disruption of the neuro-endocrine-immune axis
• Comparative Immunotoxicology
In the last two decades, the field of Immunotoxicology has made significant progress, resulting in not only an improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying toxicant-mediated alterations in immune function but also providing critical insights into fundamental aspects of immunobiology. Detailed characterization of the immune system organization and responses totoxicants and natural toxins in a highly diverse group of species will provide broader context, as well as contributing to better explain the evolutionary fate of the immune system in response to such stressors. Moreover, immunotoxicological studies of wild and domesticated animals have proven to be an invaluable resource for understanding the role toxicants and natural toxins play in agriculture, aquaculture, ecology, and conservation. As rates of environmental pollution continue to rise across the globe, Immunotoxicology studies have become more urgent and relevant than ever before.
We aim to present a broad collection of manuscripts that highlight recent advances and future trends in Immunotoxicology in animals. This Research Topic will provide an overview of research encompassing diverse toxicants and toxins, model organisms, immune organs, and functional endpoints. By presenting work from diverse phyla, we intend to highlight the similarities and differences in toxicant-mediated immune alterations (or resistance to these alterations) across species. We welcome the submission of Original Research, Reviews, and Perspectives articles focusing on, but not limited to the following sub-topics:
• Immunological biomarkers for environmental toxicants
• Effects of toxicants and natural toxins on innate and/or adaptive immune system
• Modulation of immunological tolerance
• Immunological exhaustion under chronic exposure
• Impact on the immune system by perturbation of microbial commensals
• Autoimmune disease, allergy, cancer, infectious disease, and other immune-mediated
diseases.
• Disruption of the neuro-endocrine-immune axis
• Comparative Immunotoxicology
Keywords: toxicants, natural toxins, immune system, animal models
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
