Stem Cell-Immune Function and Cardiac Regeneration

Dear Colleagues,

The development of stem-cell-based and regenerative therapies for cardiovascular and other diseases has faced an unexpected roadblock in clinical translation. Upcoming knowledge from clinical research points in the direction of bone marrow stem cell/immune progenitor cell senescence by epigenetic and somatic mutations is the potential cause. Moreover, not only is modification of tissue repair mechanisms the consequence of stem cell mutations and DNA-pathology, but these may also form the cause of disease mechanisms and progression. In order to identify responsible pathways and genotype/phenotype patterns and establish proof by modeling, a close interdisciplinary approach is needed crossing medical and nonmedical disciplines. First, there is a need for better individualized diagnostics (precision medicine) of underlying disease mechanisms using the new technologies of systems medicine. Second, validated precision T-cell targeted and (stem) cell therapies can be designed on the basis of diagnostic monitoring of molecular pathomechanisms altered by genetic or cellular repair strategies. A number of groups are underway to open the roadblock by precision medicine in clinical and experimental studies. A special focus is given in this issue to stem cell dysfunction in hematologic, cardiac, and neuronal disease based on immune and cardiovascular pathomechanisms.

The current Special Issue will accept original studies, reviews, and technical reports focusing on stem cell/immune cell biology, precision medicine, -omics, animal disease models, molecular diagnostics, biophysics, and imaging written by scientists active in the field of regenerative and precision medicine.

Prof. Dr. Gustav Steinhoff
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 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. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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.