Hypoxia and the Immune Landscape in Infection and Cancer
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409). This special issue belongs to the section "Cellular Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 3
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hypoxia profoundly influences the immune landscape in both infection and cancer. In infection, hypoxia develops in abscesses, granulomas and inflamed tissues as pathogens and leukocytes consume oxygen, affecting phagocyte recruitment, antimicrobial effector functions and myeloid cell survival and activation.
In solid tumors, rapid cell proliferation often outpaces blood vessel formation, resulting in the development of hypoxic regions. Hypoxia triggers metabolic dysregulation and adaptive responses, including the suppression of effector cell responses, the recruitment of immunosuppressive cells, and the upregulation of immune-evasion molecules, which are detrimental to anti-tumor immunity.
Many, but not all, of the observed changes in infection and cancer are mediated by hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs), primarily HIF-1 and HIF-2.
This Special Issue seeks original papers and reviews on the mechanisms by which hypoxia alters immune responses in both infection and cancer, and the impact of these changes on health and disease outcomes.
Dr. Bernard Burke
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- hypoxia
- tumor
- infection
- HIFs
- immune checkpoint proteins
- immune evasion
- metabolic dysregulation
- leukocyte recruitment
- effector cell function
- acidosis
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