Probiotics and the Immune System: The Potential for Postimmunobiotics 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of our 2023 Special Issue "Probiotics and the Immune System: The Potential for Postimmunobiotics 2.0".

Welcome to the Special Issue “Probiotics and the Immune System: The Potential for Postimmunobiotics 2.0” of Microorganisms. Probiotic microorganisms are considered to support the host's health. Despite enlightening advances in research and development, validation of the health-promoting properties of probiotic products is still required, especially by regulators. Scientific criticism based on poorly characterized isolates, soft clinical targets, and the absence of a mechanistic framework limited the value of the probiotic concept. Thus, studies on how probiotics work at the cellular and molecular level are mandatory to expand their industrial applications.

The term 'immunobiotics' has been proposed to describe microbes able to beneficially modulate the host immune system. In recent years, reports have described the benefits of immunobiotics in mucosal and non-mucosal infections, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, immunosuppression, antimicrobial substitutes, and other immune-mediated diseases. Bioactive compounds with immunomodulatory properties derived from immunobiotic microbes (postimmunobiotics) are being actively characterized by the scientific community. Research in postimmunobiotics applications may lead to the development of pharmabiotics that improve human or animal health through the modulation of the immune system. Immunobiotics and postimmunobiotics research has the potential to benefit the food, medical, and pharmaceutical industries.

As the Guest Editors of this Special Issue, we invite the submission of research articles, review articles, and short communications on the use of immunobiotics and postimmunobiotics to prevent or treat diseases and improve the health of human and animals.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions in this field covering the following areas:

• Isolation and identification of novel immunobiotics;
• Identification and characterization of novel postimmunobiotics;
• Design and characterization of immunobiotics- or postimmunobiotics-supplemented functional products;
• Effects of immunobiotics and postimmunobiotics products in the modulation of the microbiota;
• Cellular and molecular interactions of immunobiotics and postimmunobiotics with the host;

We hope you will enjoy this issue.

Prof. Dr. Haruki Kitazawa
Dr. Julio Villena
Prof. Dr. A. K. M. Humayun Kober
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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.

• probiotics
• immunobiotics
• postimmunobiotics
• immunomodulation