The immune system is a complex and dynamic network composed by specialized cells, tissue and organs, acting in concert to promote an effective host defense.

Although several in vitro studies have successfully described the dynamic aspects of the immune response, ex vivo reductionistic model systems often fail to reconstitute the complexity of in vivo multicellular tissues.

In the last decade, a variety of molecular imaging modalities have been developed to investigate the immune response in preclinical in vivo models, allowing to visualize, in real time, the extreme complexity of the immune system network, both at macroscale, mesoscale and microscale level.

Recent advances in molecular and cellular biology, together with innovative imaging technologies and strategies, provided new insights into the complex and dynamic regulation of the immune response in animal models.

With this Research Topic, we aim to provide a state-of-the art review about the recent advances in different imaging technologies for the visualization of the immune response in preclinical in vivo models.

Our goal is to present an overview of the latest strategies and technological innovations in the field of non-invasive molecular imaging (including optical, nuclear and magnetic resonance imaging), mesoscopic imaging (such as OPT and OCT) and microscopic optical imaging (such as intravital microscopy and fluorescence endoscopy) and show how these techniques can be successfully applied to investigate the processes involved in immune system activation and function.

We will collect Original Research Articles, Reviews and Method Articles on, but not limited to, the following topics:

1. Investigation of immune response biology in several inflammatory contexts (infection, sterile inflammation, cancer, etc.) by in vivo imaging applications

2. Development of novel probes, reporters and biomarkers to track immune processes in vivo

3. Technological advances in the field of preclinical in vivo imaging towards immune response imaging applications

4. Description of innovative or significantly updated methodology to visualize immune response in vivo

Topic Editor Dr. Nick Devoogdt holds several patents on probes for imaging of immune cells. He is co-founder and shareholder of the company AbScint that leverages new probes for immune cell imaging. He is in the management board of the IMI2 program Immune-Image where academics together with pharma companies and SMEs develop, preclinically evaluate and clinically test new tracers to imaging immune cells in cancer and inflammatory diseases. He is co-founder, shareholder and consultant for the company Precirix that develops therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, and where nuclear imaging is a readout of anti-cancer immune responses. Finally, he is performing sponsored research for companies including Exevir, Esobiotech, Confo Therapeutics, Roche, Telix Pharma, Agenus, 121BIO, Complix, and Boehringer Ingelheim. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regards to the Research Topic subject.

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Frontiers in Immunology

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