Neutrophil Subsets and Polarization in Inflammation: Implications for Pathogenesis

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammatory reactions can be triggered by pathogens, cancers, and autoimmune conditions. Situations in which the inflammatory response fails to return to homeostasis can lead to immunopathological events.

Many innate immune cells are involved in the process of inflammatory responses, including neutrophils. Accumulating evidence suggests that neutrophils are highly versatile and display functional plasticity. Therefore, neutrophils are now increasingly acknowledged as important players in homeostatic conditions, as well as in pathological inflammation. For instance, neutrophils have been implicated in influencing carcinogenesis both positively and negatively. Similarly, they have exhibited both antiviral effects as well as undesirable host damage during viral infections.

Although the concept of neutrophil heterogeneity and plasticity is now well established, the multifunctional roles that neutrophil subsets and neutrophil polarization may play during inflammation and immune responses remains unclear. Dissecting factors such as key microenvironmental cues and cell-to-cell communications that could be influencing the phenotype and behavior of neutrophils is essential. This could have significant impacts on our understanding of neutrophil functionality and polarization during inflammation and on our ability to treat different inflammatory reactions.

The aim of this Special Issue of Cells is to facilitate a better understanding of how distinct inflammatory conditions shape neutrophil heterogenicity, plasticity, and functions that result in the contribution to overall pathogenesis or to resolution and restoration of the condition, with an emphasis on advancing the next generation of anti-inflammatory therapies.

Dr. Khalil Karimi
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.