About this Research Topic
Modern lifestyle, environmental, socioeconomic, and many other factors cumulatively act as the global chronic stress that impacts the function of the human immune system. The ability of the adaptive immune system to recognize a wide variety of antigens depends on a large repertoire of unique T-cell receptors (TCR) generated in the thymus. Paradoxically, thymic function progressively declines with age in a process that starts during the first years of life and becomes more prominent from the onset of puberty. The thymic function is also extremely sensitive to insults caused by stress, infection, sex hormones, obesity as well as cytoreductive therapies. These factors lead to accelerated thymic dysfunction, and a reduction in peripheral TCR diversity, capable of mounting an effective immune response against various foreign antigens, including tumorous and infection. Reduction in T cell diversity may also critically change the immune response to pathological like autoimmune and allergic and lead to the reduction of anti-infection and anti-cancer defense. Therefore, accelerated thymic involution, seems, to be the main player of premature immune-senescence and associated pathologies linked to this.
Modern biomedical technologies offer various ways to restore thymus function, which include the application of thymus-specific cytokines and chemical compounds modulating the properties of thymic epithelial stem cells, transplantation of native thymus fragments or organoids grown in vitro from epithelial stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells. Each of these approaches can be more or less effective in a particular situation, however, none of them alone provides a guaranteed result. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are assuming an ever-increasing role in the biomedical field. In the field of immune system study and immune-mediated diseases, the application of AI can support the diagnosis of systemic immune-mediated diseases, predict the effectiveness of applied therapy as well as help in searching for new targets and markers optimizing the big data analysis.
This Research Topic aims to collect the latest knowledge relating to human thymus biology and the best practices and innovations directed toward the generation of fully functional thymi in vitro or renewing its function in vivo, including AI and other innovative approaches that may help overcome or prevent the effects of injury factors leading to premature immuno-senescence and immune-associated diseases.
Original Research papers, Reviews, Perspectives, Mini-Reviews, Brief Research Reports, and Opinion articles are welcome. Please note that purely clinical studies are unsuitable for this Research Topic.
Topic Editor, Valentin Shichkin, is currently employed by the pharmaceutical company, OmniFarma LLC, Kyiv, Ukraine. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests in regards to this Research Topic.
Modern biomedical technologies offer various ways to restore thymus function, which include the application of thymus-specific cytokines and chemical compounds modulating the properties of thymic epithelial stem cells, transplantation of native thymus fragments or organoids grown in vitro from epithelial stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells. Each of these approaches can be more or less effective in a particular situation, however, none of them alone provides a guaranteed result. Currently, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are assuming an ever-increasing role in the biomedical field. In the field of immune system study and immune-mediated diseases, the application of AI can support the diagnosis of systemic immune-mediated diseases, predict the effectiveness of applied therapy as well as help in searching for new targets and markers optimizing the big data analysis.
This Research Topic aims to collect the latest knowledge relating to human thymus biology and the best practices and innovations directed toward the generation of fully functional thymi in vitro or renewing its function in vivo, including AI and other innovative approaches that may help overcome or prevent the effects of injury factors leading to premature immuno-senescence and immune-associated diseases.
Original Research papers, Reviews, Perspectives, Mini-Reviews, Brief Research Reports, and Opinion articles are welcome. Please note that purely clinical studies are unsuitable for this Research Topic.
Topic Editor, Valentin Shichkin, is currently employed by the pharmaceutical company, OmniFarma LLC, Kyiv, Ukraine. All other Topic Editors declare no competing interests in regards to this Research Topic.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, immune system, stem cell technologies, thymus, immune-associated diseases, immuno-senescence
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