Genetics and Epigenetics Factors Influencing the Pathogenicity of Infectious Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

The variability of infectious disease varies greatly among individuals, from asymptomatic to severely symptomatic cases, due to host and pathogen determinants. This has been recently confirmed by the spectra of the SARS–COVID-19 pandemics. Genomic variants and epigenomics factors have emerged as important players in the pathogenicity of infectious diseases by modulating pathogen replication efficiency, inflammatory and immune responses or influencing the development of complications. In this scenario, patients with rare genetic diseases, such as hereditary heart disease, chronic lung diseases, immune deficiencies, hematological diseases, neuromuscular and metabolic pathologies, could present a higher risk for developing severely symptomatic infection.

In this Special Issue, authors are invited to present novel data on a) genetic screening and epigenomic studies analyzing modifiers for infection susceptibility, clinical variability and response to treatment in the general population vs. the high-risk population; b) the impact of infections in the rare diseases population; c) cellular and biochemical studies analyzing the metabolic pathways involved in the mechanisms of infectious disease and their tissue specificity; d) the metabolic pathways responsible for the efficacy and safety of currently used infection treatments or those in the development pipeline.

The collection of studies will represent an important source of novel data for developing personalized precise medicine in the management and treatment of infectious diseases.

Dr. Caterina Garone
Dr. Dario Brunetti
Guest Editors

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