Given the success of Volume I of this Research Topic, and the rapidly evolving subject area, we are pleased to announce the launch of Volume II: Role of Lipid Rafts in Anti-Microbial Immune Response.

Several studies revealed that different microbial pathogens such as viruses (SARS-CoV-2, HIV, Influenza virus, Epstein-Barr virus, Echovirus, Rhinovirus), bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Shigella flexneri), fungi (Candida albicans) and parasites (Plasmodium falciparum, Toxoplasma gondii) employ host cell lipid rafts as cell surface platform to interact, bind and possibly enter into host cells.

Lipid rafts are historically proposed as small, highly dynamic plasma membrane microdomains enriched in cholesterol, glycosphingolipids, and phospholipids. These membrane regions play an important role in a variety of cellular functions, but principally they recruit and concentrate several molecules and receptors involved in cellular signaling, forming a signal transduction platform.

Cells of the innate immune system, such as monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells recruit several pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs) including Toll-like or c-type lectin receptors into lipid rafts. This event leads to the formation of a phagocytic synapse involved in different steps of host-microbe interaction starting from adhesion/binding, internalization, fusion of phagosomes with lysosomes, activation of signaling pathways and cytokine release as well as induction of apoptosis of infected cells.

Lipid raft-mediated microbial phagocytosis by professional antigen-presenting cells could also influence the antigen-specific T cell response by modulating the amount or the type of antigens presented with impact in the magnitude and class of the T cell response generated. Moreover, the engagement of PRRs into lipid rafts may regulate the pattern of cytokines produced by APC and hence impact T cell polarization.

In this Research Topic we welcome authors to submit Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Original Research, Perspective, and Commentary article focusing on, but not limited to, the following subtopics:

• The role of lipid rafts in microbial phagocytosis and cytokine/signaling response by phagocytes

• The involvement and recruitment of pathogen recognition receptors into the lipid raft platform

• The role of lipid raft-mediated phagocytosis in the induction of anti-microbial specific T cell response

• The effects of lipid raft-targeting drugs on immune recognition of microbes and the ensuing T cell response.

• The regulation of lipid raft-mediated membrane trafficking, intracellular signaling, and cytoskeletal reorganization by pathogens

• The recruitment of organelles, compartments, and autophagy by pathogens, which relied on lipid rafts

• The manipulation of lipid rafts by pathogens or their virulence factors to modulate the immune response

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Frontiers in Immunology

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