The liver is recognized as an immunological organ playing critical roles in fighting invading pathogens. It hosts hepatocytes and nonparenchymal cells. The nonparenchymal cells include large populations of immune cells such as Kupffer cells, natural killer (NK) cells, NKT cells, and other lymphocytes which have complex interactions with each other and with the hepatocytes, making the liver an important organ bridging innate immunity and adaptive immunity.

The dysregulation of immune cells in the liver is involved in almost all types of liver diseases, both acute and chronic. The innate immune response is an instant response to acute injury or infection involving mainly Kupffer cells, neutrophils, and NK cells. A longer adaptation process to injury and healing involves other cell types such as hepatocytes, hepatic stellate cells, and endothelial cells in addition to immune cells. Currently, effective treatment for inflammatory liver diseases remains limited. An improved understanding of the inflammatory processes responsible for the progression of liver diseases will be very helpful for developing novel and effective strategies for inflammatory liver disease treatment.

This special issue aims to discuss core immunological mechanisms underlying acute and chronic liver diseases and how to control the inflammatory response in the liver. This special issue will cover topics from basic science to translational and clinical studies. We would like to invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles to the special issue.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Targeting immune cells in the therapy for liver diseases
• The interaction between immune cells and other cells in the development of liver diseases
• The roles of immune cells in liver injury and repair
• Immune regulation in pathogenesis of liver diseases
• The dysregulation of immune cells in the development of liver cancer