The field of immunology has long been focused on understanding the complex mechanisms by which the immune system defends the host against pathogens. However, when these mechanisms malfunction, they can lead to autoimmune diseases, where the immune system mistakenly attacks the host's own tissues. Immune responses are intricate, involving a multitude of immune cells, metabolites, proteins, and regulatory elements that operate across various tissues and organ systems. Traditional immunological research has provided significant insights into these processes, yet it often isolates specific components or pathways, missing the broader picture of the immune response's complexity. Recent advancements in multi-omics integrative analysis offer a promising approach to overcome these limitations. By combining genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, along with cellular composition studies, researchers can achieve a holistic understanding of the immune system's systemic responses. Despite these advancements, there remains a need for comprehensive studies that integrate these diverse data types to fully elucidate the molecular underpinnings of immune responses in both health and disease.
This research topic aims to promote comprehensive studies of systemic immune responses in the context of infections, autoimmune diseases, and vaccinations. The objective is to explore the systemic nature of immune responses, whether within a single cell's compartments, such as chromatin accessibility and RNA/protein levels, or across multiple tissues and organ systems. By employing multi-omics analyses, the research seeks to uncover the intricate molecular interactions that drive immune responses, ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of immune-related diseases. The research will involve testing hypotheses related to the integration of various omics data and their implications for immune function and dysfunction.
To gather further insights into the systemic immune response through a multi-omic lens, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Multi-omics view of systemic immune response to infection, treatments, or vaccination.
- Multi-omics view of systemic immune response in autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjogren’s disease, Type 1 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease.
- Advances in multi-omics integrative analysis methods, including novel integration methods or benchmarking and review of existing methods.
Keywords: systems immunology, systemic immune response, multi-omics integrative analysis, autoimmune diseases, infection, vaccination
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.
