Beyond Drivers and Suppressors: Investigating Upstream Regulators of Cell Death
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2026 | Viewed by 1263
Special Issue Editor
Interests: carcinogenesis; functional genomics; high-throughput sequencing; in silico; transcription factors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Regulated cell death (RCD) encompasses both well-characterized modalities (e.g., apoptosis, necroptosis, pyroptosis) and emerging forms such as ferroptosis, oxeiptosis, and alkaliptosis. This Special Issue invites studies elucidating the upstream control layers that prime, initiate, or tune these death programs. We welcome research mapping receptor–ligand and kinase circuits, metabolic and redox checkpoints, ion and pH homeostasis, non-coding RNAs, and transcriptional or epigenetic programs, as well as context dependence (cell type, microenvironment, infection) and cross-talk among RCD pathways. Submissions centered on classical cell-death modalities are fully in scope when they probe higher-order regulation or reveal new interfaces between pathways.
The present Special Issue invites research expanding what is known about RCD axes, but, more importantly, it prioritizes studies that uncover previously unrecognized relationships. Because upstream regulation can shape cell death outcomes independently of pathway components (e.g., via epigenetic reprogramming, altered transcription factor networks, or metabolic rewiring), such studies are especially valued. We welcome original contributions in the form of in silico, in vitro, and in vivo investigations. Exploratory and bioinformatics-based analyses are encouraged when they propose conceptually novel relationships or testable hypotheses, as well as utilize rigorous scoring frameworks or pathway-activity metrics. Papers that fall outside these themes will also be evaluated.
This Special Issue is supervised by Dr. Damian Kołat and assisted by Dr. Elżbieta Płuciennik, elzbieta.pluciennik@umed.lodz.pl (Department of Functional Genomics, Medical University of Lodz, 90-752 Lodz, Poland) and Dr. Żaneta Kałuzińska-Kołat, zaneta.kaluzinska@umed.lodz.pl (Department of Biomedicine and Experimental Surgery, Medical University of Lodz, 90-136 Lodz, Poland).
Dr. Damian Kołat
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- cell death
- driver genes
- suppressor genes
- upstream regulators
- gene expression
- in silico
- in vitro
- in vivo
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