A special section entitled “Targeting the Immune System” is expected to be published in the October 2024 issue of The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. This is a call for original research, including minireviews, focused on targeting the immune system in auto-immune and inflammatory diseases to prevent organ rejection and fight cancer and infectious diseases.
We have recently witnessed a revolution in our ability to modulate the immune system to increase the recognition and destruction of infectious agents and cancer cells., In addition, advancements have been made to selectively dampen immune responses to treat a myriad of autoimmune, degenerative and chronic inflammatory diseases.
This includes multiple new pharmacological strategies, ranging from the use of antibodies targeting specific immune cell populations or modulating their immune functions, small molecules targeting key immune signaling and metabolic networks, natural and engineered cytokines and chemokines and their synthetic receptor agonists and antagonists or neutralizing antibodies, to new RNA and protein delivery systems.
Prospective articles can include:
- Development of small molecule immune-modulating agents
- Engineering of antigen-specific immune cells
- Protein engineering of cytokines and chemokines
- Cytokine and chemokine blocking antibodies
- Cytokine and chemokine receptor agonists and antagonists
- Antibodies targeting novel cancer immune checkpoints
- Antibodies targeting specific immune cell populations
- Emerging protein, RNA, and DNA delivery systems of immune-modulating agents, including antigens
Full-length articles focusing on, but not limited to, the above-mentioned aspects of protein and peptide delivery will be considered. Article proposals, including title, author information, abstract and significance statement should be submitted as a presubmission inquiry to The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. These proposals will be reviewed by the special section guest editors, Dr. Carla V. Rothlin and Dr. J. Silvio Gutkind, who will respond to the authors with comments, and assess whether final approval will be granted for a full submission.
The submission deadline is March 15, 2024 and all submissions must refer to the journal’s Instructions to Authors. There are no submission fees or page charges for publishing in this special section, and accepted manuscripts will be published immediately online.