Advances in Targeting Macrophages in Immunotherapy
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2025) | Viewed by 10803
Special Issue Editor
Interests: macrophages; infection; inflammation; immunity; inflammasomes; inflammatory cell death; cancer immunotherapy; radiation; extracellular vesicles; liposomes; polymer nanocapsules; skin biology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Macrophages are vital effector cells of the innate immune system and are also major components of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Mounting evidence has demonstrated that the TME alters the nature of macrophages so that they can maintain vibrant tissue homeostasis, dictating tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) to orchestrate tumorigenesis via augmenting conditions, favoring tumor establishment, development, and metastasis. TAMs also express a variety of immune checkpoints, leading towards suppressing antitumor immune responses. This makes tumors with a high TAM burden have poor prognoses and increased resistance to chemotherapeutic agents and other treatment modalities. Therefore, exploring tumor-promoting mechanisms of TAMs has attracted much attention, and targeting TAMs has emerged as a promising immunotherapeutic strategy.
In recent years, unprecedented breakthroughs have been made in cancer immunotherapies and have achieved undeniable success, providing evidence that these macrophage-centered therapeutic approaches have the potential to complement and synergize with the currently available tools in the oncology armamentarium. This Special Issue invites research articles and reviews focused on advancing our knowledge and broadening our understanding of TAM-directed treatment modalities.
Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Macrophage engineering and genetic editing;
- Strategies engaged towards effective bidirectional interactions with components of innate and adaptive systems;
- Strategies to improve clinical response rates in patients;
- Strategies aiming at improving immune checkpoint therapies;
- Studies focused on chimeric antigen macrophage (CAR-M) for patients with solid tumors;
- Strategies focused on altering macrophage metabolism;
- Nanomaterial-based strategies for TAM-focused immunotherapy.
Dr. Vinod Nadella
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-blind 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.
Keywords
- tumor-associated macrophages
- tumor microenvironment
- tumor immunology
- carcinogenesis
- macrophage repolarization
- checkpoint inhibitor
- immunotherapy
- nanomaterials
- metabolic reprogramming
- epigenetics
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
