Monitoring and Reconstitution of Pathogen-Specific Cellular Immunity in Immunocompromised Hosts

Call for Papers

Hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a widespread therapy to treat malignant and nonmalignant hematological diseases, congenital immunodeficiencies, and selected genetic diseases. In order to allow the engraftment and to prevent the graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), the recipient's immune system is suppressed using drugs and/or irradiation. As a consequence of immunoablation, the recipient becomes susceptible to severe opportunistic infections sustained by pathogens that are efficiently controlled by immunocompetent subjects. The immunocompromised status is mostly due to the loss of specific T lymphocytes. It has been demonstrated in the early 1990s that the specific T-cell responses can be restored in these patients by using donor-derived T cells that have been selected for pathogen specificity, with removal of alloreactive lymphocytes that would otherwise cause GvHD. Immune reconstitution by adoptive T-cell transfer has been applied in selected centers worldwide. This approach can be refined by applying improved methods for selection and expansion of specific T cells. At the same time, remarkable progresses have been made to monitor the pathogen-specific T-cell immunity, in order to better define the immunocompromised and the immunoreconstituted patient.

With this premise, we invite authors to submit original research and review articles that report on recent progresses in the field of adoptive T-cell therapy and immunomonitoring. Potential topics for the solicited contributions include, but are not limited to:

• Mechanism of endogenous immunoreconstitution after HSCT in humans and in animals
• Refinement, development, and standardization of assays for immunomonitoring
• Biomarkers and correlates of protective T-cell immunity
• Genetic modification of antigen-presenting cells and effector T cells
• Methods for selection and expansion of specific T cells for clinical use
• Results of clinical trials in adults and children

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdi/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/cdi/psc/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Giusi Li Pira, Department of Pediatric Oncohematology and Transfusion Medicine, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, 00165 Rome, Italy

Guest Editors

• Hermann Einsele, Department of Internal Medicine II, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
• Tobias Feuchtinger, Department of General Paediatrics, Oncology/Haematology, University Children's Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
• Jan Gratama, Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
• Tanzina Haque, Centre for Virology, University College London, London NW3 2PF, UK
• Florian Kern, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brigthon BN1 9PX, UK
• Franco Locatelli, Department of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, 00165 Rome, Italy
• Mario Roederer, Vaccine Research Center, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA