Discovery, Function, and Therapeutic Employment of Immune Checkpoints
A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Biology and Oncology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 356
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
The discovery and characterization of immune checkpoints have significantly improved our understanding of the regulation of the adaptive immune system. Providing inhibitory signals, mainly for T cell activation, immune checkpoint pathways appear to be one of the major mechanisms resulting in the immune escape of tumor cells and other irregular cells.
In functional terms, immune checkpoints exist as specific cell-surface receptors and their ligands expressed on immune cells and various other cells, including tumor cells. Among the checkpoint receptors, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4), programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1), T-cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain (TIGIT), T-cell immunoglobulin-3 (TIM-3), and lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) are the most commonly targeted checkpoints for cancer immunotherapy. Moreover, immune checkpoint receptors and their ligands play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of autoimmune, viral, and other diseases. Thus, the targeting of immune checkpoint receptors and their ligands has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy against various types of cancer and other immunogenic diseases. Consequently, the discovery and functional characterization of major immune checkpoint receptors led to the Nobel Prize award to James P. Allison (CTLA-4) and Tasuku Honjo (PD-1) in 2018. Hence, this Special Issue in Biomedicines will contribute to the understanding of the modes of action of immune checkpoint pathways and their components, and may pave the way for the further development of effective immunotherapeutic strategies against various diseases.
Prof. Dr. Cord Naujokat
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 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. Biomedicines 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 2600 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.
Keywords
- immune checkpoints
- immune checkpoint receptors
- CTLA-4
- PD-1
- LAG-3
- TIM-3
- TIGIT
- cancer
- immunotherapy
