Role of Extracellular Vesicles in Immunology: Second Edition
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: 23 November 2025 | Viewed by 935
Special Issue Editors
Interests: immune system; allergic diseases; extracellular vesicles; immunotherapy; nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: immune response; innate immunity; cell to cell communication; extracellular vesicles cargo; epigenetic modification; miRNA; environmental pollutants; immunotoxicity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cells can communicate in different ways by means of soluble factors or cell-to-cell contact; however, an increasing body of evidence has recently demonstrated that cells can communicate through the release of extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies. EVs are particles composed of an outer lipid bilayer of variable sizes. During the immune response, they are selectively loaded with immune regulatory proteins, such as cytokines, making them important messengers in terms of delivering targeted biological signals. Vesicular signalling has now emerged as a critical component of innate immunity that orchestrates actions of multiple immune system cells in infectious and inflammatory diseases. It is interesting to note that EVs are highly heterogeneous concerning their composition, location, and function, as indicated by their parental cells. Cargo transfer regulates various cellular activities ranging from gene expression to metabolism. Of note, the number of EVs produced and the cargos loaded into these extracellular vesicles depend on the state (physiological or pathological) and microenvironment of the donor cells. Innovation has also opened the way to the relevance of EVs and their cargo content in human toxicology studies. Indeed, EVs isolated from patient body fluids have been studied in research concerning disease biomarkers and early diagnosis possibilities in inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
In this Special Issue, we welcome manuscripts addressing original research and review papers as well as short communications highlighting the characteristics of EVs. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Immunological response (innate and adaptive immunity, including inflammation, antigen presentation, and the development and activation of B cells and T cells);
- The characterization of EVs’ cargo content (microRNAs, lipids, mRNAs, etc.);
- Next-generation drug delivery platforms;
- Relevance of EVs in human toxicology studies.
Dr. Paolo Colombo
Dr. Valeria Longo
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- extracellular vesicles
- exosomes
- microvesicles
- apoptotic bodies
- cytokines
- immunological response
- immune system
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