Advanced Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies in Host–Pathogen–Drug Interactions

Dear Colleagues,

Host–pathogen interactions are dynamic and highly coordinated biological processes that determine microbial survival, disease progression, immune activation, tissue injury, and therapeutic response. Pathogens employ diverse molecular strategies to enter host cells, manipulate cellular signaling, evade innate and adaptive immunity, alter metabolic pathways, and establish persistent or recurrent infections. In parallel, host cells activate interconnected defense mechanisms involving pattern-recognition receptors, inflammatory mediators, antiviral proteins, autophagy, programmed cell death, metabolic reprogramming, and epigenetic regulation.

The increasing emergence of antimicrobial resistance, persistent viral infections, treatment failure, microbial adaptation, and pathogen-associated inflammatory disorders highlights the need to examine infection biology beyond isolated pathogen or host factors. Therapeutic agents can directly target microbial components, modify host defense pathways, influence the microbiome, alter pathogen susceptibility, and reshape the molecular environment in which infection develops. Understanding these multidirectional host–pathogen–drug interactions is therefore essential for identifying actionable molecular targets and developing more effective therapeutic strategies.

We are pleased to invite researchers to contribute to this Special Issue entitled “Advanced Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies in Host–Pathogen–Drug Interactions.”

Aim and Scope

This Special Issue aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for original and state-of-the-art research addressing the molecular mechanisms that govern interactions among pathogens, host cells, immune responses, and therapeutic agents.

The Special Issue will particularly highlight how bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic pathogens manipulate host signaling, immune regulation, cellular metabolism, epigenetic mechanisms, protein homeostasis, and cell-death pathways. It will also examine how conventional and emerging therapeutic interventions modify these processes and influence infection outcomes.

The collection is intended to bridge fundamental molecular research with translational therapeutic development. Studies integrating microbiology, molecular biology, immunology, pharmacology, systems biology, bioinformatics, drug discovery, and precision medicine are particularly encouraged.

The Special Issue is directly relevant to the scope of Pathogens because it addresses pathogen biology, pathogen–host interactions, host defense mechanisms, molecular signaling, immune responses, and the development and mechanistic evaluation of therapeutic interventions against infectious diseases.

Suggested Themes

Original research articles, comprehensive reviews, systematic reviews, perspectives, and communications are welcome. Relevant research areas include, but are not limited to:

1. Molecular mechanisms of pathogen attachment, entry, replication, dissemination, and persistence;
2. Host receptors and cellular factors exploited during infection;
3. Innate and adaptive immune responses to microbial pathogens;
4. Pathogen-mediated suppression or reprogramming of host immunity;
5. Pattern-recognition receptors and downstream inflammatory or antiviral signaling;
6. Molecular mechanisms of immune evasion and chronic infection;
7. Host-cell metabolism and metabolic reprogramming during infection;
8. Epigenetic and post-translational regulation of host–pathogen interactions;
9. Ubiquitination, deubiquitination, phosphorylation, acetylation, and other protein modifications during infection;
10. Autophagy, apoptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, necroptosis, and other cell-death pathways in microbial disease;
11. Microbial virulence factors and host cellular responses;
12. Antimicrobial and antiviral drug mechanisms;
13. Host-directed therapies for infectious diseases;
14. Drug–pathogen and drug–host molecular interactions;
15. Antimicrobial resistance and molecular mechanisms of therapeutic failure;
16. Drug repurposing for bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections;
17. Natural compounds and bioactive molecules targeting infection-related pathways;
18. Combination therapies and synergistic antimicrobial approaches;
19. Therapeutic targeting of pathogen-induced immune dysregulation;
20. Microbiome–host–drug interactions affecting infection or treatment response;
21. Molecular biomarkers predicting infection severity or therapeutic outcome;
22. Computational modelling, multi-omics, systems biology, and artificial intelligence approaches in infection biology;
23. Nanotechnology and advanced delivery systems for antimicrobial or host-directed therapies;
24. Precision and personalized therapeutic approaches for infectious diseases;
25. Translational models for evaluating pathogen–host–drug interactions.

Submissions should provide substantial mechanistic, translational, methodological, or conceptual advances. Purely descriptive studies without adequate mechanistic or clinical relevance may be considered less suitable.

We believe that this Special Issue will bring together researchers from microbiology, virology, immunology, molecular medicine, pharmacology, biotechnology, and infectious-disease research. By integrating fundamental discoveries with therapeutic innovation, the collection will help identify new research directions and support the development of effective interventions against emerging, persistent, and drug-resistant infections.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Umar Saeed
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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.