About this Research Topic
This proposed Research Topic (RT) will describe our current understanding of CNS-specific immune responsiveness, in both health and disease, as well as the various elements that participate in it. More specifically, the RT will include the interrelationship between brain-specific immunity and peripheral immunity, the mechanisms for maintaining brain homeostasis, and the resolution of various insults to the brain, such as tumors, pathogen-induced neuroinflammation, cerebrovascular diseases and stroke, neurodevelopmental disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases.
The proposed RT will especially focus on microglia's role in neuroimmunology, but will not be limited to this one cell type. More specifically, the RT will summarize research findings about microglia's interactions with infiltrated peripheral monocytes/macrophages, and with T and B lymphocytes, especially in the context of development, homeostasis, and insult-triggered neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration, and related topics described as follows:
- Participation of microglia, T cells, B cells, monocytes and macrophages in maintaining CNS homeostasis;
- Crosstalk between microglia, T cells, B cells, monocytes and macrophages at cellular and molecular levels in diverse brain pathologies;
- Structural and functional dynamics of immune cells coupled to milieu changes within the CNS;
- Establishment and integrity of the BBB and its involvement in the recruitment of peripheral immune cells in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative scenarios;
- Identification of genes and pathways that could be targeted for providing therapeutic intervention of neuroinflammation;
- Development of model organisms (genetically or chemically induced, for example) for studying and understanding brain immunity in the healthy and diseased CNS;
- State-of-art technologies, including single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomics approaches, and bioinformatics, as applied for understanding immune responses within the nervous system during the onset, progression and resolution of neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative traumas.
Original articles, reviews and short communications are welcome. We expect to attract significant contributions from diverse specialists in the field, to establish new trends for future studies.
The Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
Keywords: Brain, Blood-brain barrier, Immunity, Neurodegeneration, Neuroinflammation, Microglia, Monocytes, Macrophages, T cells, B cells
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.