Molecules Mediating Allergic and Autoimmune Inflammation: Commemorative Issue in Honor of Professor Christopher W. K. Lam’s Research Achievements on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammation is part of the complex surveillance response of our body to disturbances of homeostasis, such as exposure to pathogens or irritants, cell injury, or tissue damage. It is orchestrated by effector molecules (cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules) mediating intercellular communication among immune cells (macrophages, natural killer cells, T-helper lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, mast cells, basophils, and eosinophils) and participating tissues (blood vessels, skin, lungs, heart, and kidneys). Inflammation is a double-edged sword. Whilst short-term, acute-phase inflammation can always accelerate restoration of homeostasis, long-term on-going inflammation may cause chronic degenerative diseases such as allergy, autoimmunity, diabetes and renal failure. Not infrequently, exaggerated (inappropriately severe) or uncontrolled (unnecessarily lengthy) inflammation is caused by dysregulation of molecules mediating inflammation. Allergic and autoimmune diseases are known to have resulted from derangements of these intercellular messengers. Development of therapeutic strategies for correction of such messenger pathology should be helpful in clinical management of diseases of cellular miscommunication.

Our journal is pleased to be publishing a commemorative issue in honor of Professor Christopher W. K. Lam for his outstanding research contributions on “Molecules Mediating Allergic and Autoimmune Inflammation”.

Professor Lam is at present employed at the Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau, China as (1) Chair Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, (2) Director of Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital, and (3) Principal Researcher in the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine. He took up these appointments in 2010 upon retiring from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, China as (1) Professor, Chairman and Chief of Service of the Department of Chemical Pathology, (2) Director of Clinical Immunology Unit, and (3) Assistant Dean of Medicine (Research).

The above academic and professional responsibilities have facilitated Professor Lam’s active research in clinical and experimental medicine since the 1990s covering allergy and clinical immunology, nephrology, lipidology, endocrinology, toxicology, and clinical trials of Chinese medicines. He has to-date published >550 scientific papers with a total citation number >12,500 and h-score of 55. Among them, studies of allergy (allergic rhinitis, asthma and atopic dermatitis) and autoimmune diseases (systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis) contributed >140 papers. Partly because of his work on the immunopathology of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Professor Lam was conferred an inaugural Distinguished Award in Laboratory Medicine and Patient Care by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) in 2008. In this same year, his paper (of which I was the first author) on Th17-mediated inflammation in SLE was subsequently commended as one of the five top-cited publications in Clincial Immunology from 2006–2010.

In honor of Professor Lam’s outstanding career achievements on the occasion of his 70th birthday in 2016, this commemorative issue of Molecules welcomes submission of previously unpublished manuscripts from original work or reviews on “Molecules Mediating Allergic and Autoimmune Inflammation”. We plan to receive submissions from 1 February to 30 November 2016 and manuscripts will be published online on an ongoing basis after being processed.

Prof. Dr. Chun Kwok Wong
Guest Editor
5 January 2016

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