Immune Monitoring in 2026

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1764

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Cellular Technology Limited (CTL), Shaker Heights, OH 44122, USA
Interests: memory B cell; vaccines; affinity maturation; IgG subclass usage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Cellular Technology Limited (CTL), Shaker Heights, OH 44122, USA
2. Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
Interests: HCMV; T cell; immune monitoring; peptide recognition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Immune reactivity in a test subject is generally advantageous when directed against viral, bacterial, or fungal pathogens or malignant cells. Alternatively, in the context of autoimmunity or allergy, immune reactivity that is inappropriate or misdirected can be detrimental to the host. Collectively, immune monitoring aims to measure whether an immune response has occurred within a test subject, and further to define its magnitude and quality.

In this Special Issue, we invite original research articles that examine antigen-specific T or B cell reactivity in test subjects in the context of vaccination, malignancy, autoimmunity, or allergy, especial those utilizing approaches and emerging techniques that provide single-cell resolution. Submissions related to the standardization and validation of immune monitoring methods that improve either the ease or throughput of sample testing are also highly encouraged.

Dr. Greg A. Kirchenbaum
Prof. Dr. Paul V. Lehmann
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • functional assay(s)
  • antigen-specific (T/B) memory
  • antibody reactivity
  • Ig class/subclass usage
  • Affinity maturation
  • recall antigens
  • peptide pools
  • cytokine signature(s)

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 2277 KB  
Article
A Comparison of Flow Cytometry-based versus ImmunoSpot- or Supernatant-based Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Spike-specific Memory B Cells in Peripheral Blood
by Georgia Stylianou, Sharon Cookson, Justin T. Nassif, Greg A. Kirchenbaum, Paul V. Lehmann and Stephen M. Todryk
Vaccines 2026, 14(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines14010020 - 24 Dec 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1325
Abstract
Background: Memory B cells (Bmem) facilitate the generation of renewed and rapid antigen-specific antibody responses long after the initial antigen exposure, at a time when circulating serum antibodies may have declined. As the generation and/or recruitment of Bmem is at [...] Read more.
Background: Memory B cells (Bmem) facilitate the generation of renewed and rapid antigen-specific antibody responses long after the initial antigen exposure, at a time when circulating serum antibodies may have declined. As the generation and/or recruitment of Bmem is at the core of most vaccination strategies, the assessment of antigen-specific Bmem is highly informative for forecasting and profiling the elicited B cell immune response. Methods: The two prevalent techniques used to detect antigen-specific Bmem cells at single-cell resolution are probe-based flow cytometry and B cell ImmunoSpot, while the measurement of B cell-derived antibodies in culture supernatants of stimulated B cells offers a semi-quantitative alternative. To the best of our knowledge, a direct side-by-side comparison of these assay systems has not yet been reported using the same starting PBMC material in a blinded fashion to test all three assays simultaneously. Results: These three assay systems were run in parallel to detect SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-1 strain Spike-specific IgG+ Bmem in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples obtained from well-defined cohorts comprising pre-COVID-19 era “naïve” individuals (negative controls), individuals shortly after recovery from a PCR-verified SARS-CoV-2 infection (positive controls), and a cohort of donor PBMCs isolated in 2024 (the experimental group). Each assay was able to discern Spike-exposed individuals from naïve , with ImmunoSpot suggesting superior sensitivity and specificity. ImmunoSpot and flow cytometry results were closely correlated. Conclusions: The study demonstrates that all three assays are suited for the detection of specific Bmem in antigen-primed individuals when such Bmem occur in the mid- to high-frequency range, and that they broadly concur. Strengths and weaknesses of the three test systems are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Immune Monitoring in 2026)
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