Immunity is the ability of the body to resist and defeat diseases. Of key importance for a functional defense system are specialized immune cells that act at organism level to achieve host defense and prevent autoimmunity. While many aspects of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the function of immune cells have been studied to great detail in vitro or ex vivo, much less details are known about their actual behavior in living organisms in health and disease. This is why elucidating the localization, time space, and context of cellular immune responses in vivo is of outmost importance.
In vivo whole body molecular imaging is well suited to accomplish this task. A variety of molecular imaging techniques can offer high sensitivity and spatial resolution to track the location of immune cells or related molecular processes in lymphoid organs or diseased tissue. Imaging modalities that allow whole body in vivo imaging include optical, nuclear, ultrasound-optoacoustic, and magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, cryo-fluorescence tomography may also be used to generate whole body 3D imaging ex vivo.
The aim of this Research Topic is to collect significant advances in in vivo imaging of immunity with a specific focus on cancer and inflammatory diseases (including autoimmune diseases) and to highlight their ability to elucidate and characterize the in vivo behavior of endogenous or therapeutically given immune cells in healthy versus diseased subjects or to identify elements (e.g. quantitative imaging biomarkers, spatial biomarkers or radiomic features) facilitating future patient stratification.
Original Research Articles, Reviews and Method Articles are welcomed in the following areas of research:
a) Development of novel probes, tracer and methods to image immune cells and immune cell function in small and large animals, as well as for human use.
b) Development of novel methods to track the dynamics of immunological processes in vivo (e.g. antigen recognition and presentation, T-cell and B cell activation and T-cell exhaustion; phagocytosis; innate responses and humoral immunity)
c) Application of single modality or multimodality imaging to study immune response or assess immunotherapies against cancer and inflammatory diseases.
Together, we envision this Research Topic as a platform to promote recent advancements in the development and application of immune-relevant whole body in vivo imaging technologies.
Note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section.
Immunity is the ability of the body to resist and defeat diseases. Of key importance for a functional defense system are specialized immune cells that act at organism level to achieve host defense and prevent autoimmunity. While many aspects of the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the function of immune cells have been studied to great detail in vitro or ex vivo, much less details are known about their actual behavior in living organisms in health and disease. This is why elucidating the localization, time space, and context of cellular immune responses in vivo is of outmost importance.
In vivo whole body molecular imaging is well suited to accomplish this task. A variety of molecular imaging techniques can offer high sensitivity and spatial resolution to track the location of immune cells or related molecular processes in lymphoid organs or diseased tissue. Imaging modalities that allow whole body in vivo imaging include optical, nuclear, ultrasound-optoacoustic, and magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, cryo-fluorescence tomography may also be used to generate whole body 3D imaging ex vivo.
The aim of this Research Topic is to collect significant advances in in vivo imaging of immunity with a specific focus on cancer and inflammatory diseases (including autoimmune diseases) and to highlight their ability to elucidate and characterize the in vivo behavior of endogenous or therapeutically given immune cells in healthy versus diseased subjects or to identify elements (e.g. quantitative imaging biomarkers, spatial biomarkers or radiomic features) facilitating future patient stratification.
Original Research Articles, Reviews and Method Articles are welcomed in the following areas of research:
a) Development of novel probes, tracer and methods to image immune cells and immune cell function in small and large animals, as well as for human use.
b) Development of novel methods to track the dynamics of immunological processes in vivo (e.g. antigen recognition and presentation, T-cell and B cell activation and T-cell exhaustion; phagocytosis; innate responses and humoral immunity)
c) Application of single modality or multimodality imaging to study immune response or assess immunotherapies against cancer and inflammatory diseases.
Together, we envision this Research Topic as a platform to promote recent advancements in the development and application of immune-relevant whole body in vivo imaging technologies.
Note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics or computational analysis of public genomic or transcriptomic databases which are not accompanied by validation (clinical cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) are out of scope for this section.