The Pivotal Role of Mucosal Immunity in Health and Disease

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Immunology and Immunotherapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 2351

Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Pharmacy, Pusan National University, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea
Interests: allergy; gut–lung axis; vaccine adjuvant; gut microenvironment; pollutant

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mucosal surfaces represent the primary interface between the host and the external environment, acting as a critical first line of defense against pathogens while maintaining tolerance to innocuous antigens. The delicate balance of mucosal immune homeostasis is vital to overall health, but it is increasingly challenged by modern environmental factors. Emerging research highlights how exposure to environmental pollutants, such as microplastics and heavy metals, can disrupt this balance, leading to profound systemic effects and immune dysregulation via the gut–organ axis. Furthermore, advancing our fundamental understanding of mucosal immunity is crucial for developing next-generation therapeutic strategies, including innovative mucosal vaccines and targeted adjuvants.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances and current challenges in mucosal immunology. We invite original research articles and comprehensive reviews that explore the mechanisms of mucosal immune regulation, the impact of environmental toxins on mucosal barriers, and the intricate cross-talk within the gut–organ axis. We also highly welcome translational studies focusing on novel mucosal adjuvants, nutritional interventions, and immunomodulatory therapies. By bringing together diverse perspectives, this Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of how mucosal immunity shapes health outcomes and drives disease pathogenesis.

Dr. Eunsoo Kim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomedicines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mucosal immunity
  • gut–organ axis
  • immune homeostasis
  • environmental pollutants
  • vaccine adjuvants and delivery
  • immunomodulation

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

23 pages, 2013 KB  
Review
Mucosal Vaccine Development: From Adjuvant Design to Next-Generation Delivery Strategies
by Wook-Heon Lee and Eunsoo Kim
Biomedicines 2026, 14(5), 1060; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines14051060 - 7 May 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2100
Abstract
Most infectious pathogens enter the host through mucosal surfaces, yet conventional injectable vaccines primarily induce systemic immunity without eliciting robust secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) responses at mucosal sites. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this limitation, as intramuscular mRNA vaccines failed to establish durable mucosal [...] Read more.
Most infectious pathogens enter the host through mucosal surfaces, yet conventional injectable vaccines primarily induce systemic immunity without eliciting robust secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) responses at mucosal sites. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this limitation, as intramuscular mRNA vaccines failed to establish durable mucosal immunity in the upper respiratory tract. This review covers recent progress in mucosal vaccine development. We first discuss the organization of the mucosal immune system, focusing on SIgA induction, tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells, and resident memory B (BRM) cells. We then examine mucosal adjuvants, from cholera toxin and heat-labile enterotoxin derivatives to stimulator of interferon gene (STING) agonists and a strategy to enhance alum adjuvanticity through neutrophil elastase inhibition. Delivery routes including intranasal, oral, and sublingual administration are reviewed alongside viral vectors, nanoparticles, mRNA-lipid nanoparticles, virus-like particles, and engineered bacterial platforms. The roles of innate immune cells, T helper cell subsets, and the microbiota in shaping vaccine responses are discussed. Finally, we survey licensed mucosal vaccines and the COVID-19 mucosal vaccine pipeline, analyze persistent barriers to clinical translation including the absence of validated mucosal correlates of protection, and outline future directions for thermostable formulations and systems biology-driven vaccine design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Pivotal Role of Mucosal Immunity in Health and Disease)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop