Hot Topics 2023: Using Systems Biology to elucidate the role of T cells in immunotherapy

T-cells play a vital role in our body’s complex and intricate immune responses, being able to distinguish between healthy and pathogen infected or tumor cells, and destroying the latter. Of two major subtypes, CD8+ “killer” T-cells are cytotoxic and can recognize and directly kill virus-infected cells. CD4+ “helper” T-cells provide an overarching layer of defense by orchestrating the activities of other immune cells including facilitating cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. Specialized CD4+ regulatory T-cells possess mechanisms that prevent self-reactive autoimmune responses. The dysregulation of immune responses has been linked to multiple autoimmune disorders. Conversely, the activation of T-cell responses with checkpoint inhibitors and the utilization of tumor-specific engineered T-cells has ushered in a new era of patient-specific cancer immuno-therapies. A powerful example of this is the development of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy as an immunotherapy in cancer. Through the genetic reengineering of T-cells collected from patients, producing CARs on the cell surface to recognize antigens on targeted tumor cells, such autologous cells upon their adoptive transfer into patients can target tumor cells and prevent recurrence by remaining in the body for months, providing the potential for long-term remissions. These advances, when coupled with modern omics and systems biology approaches in clinical cohorts, are expected to accelerate applications for patient-specific treatments that provide long term benefit.

This Research Topic aims to explore the role of T-cells in immunological disorders and in anti-tumor responses with applications for therapeutics, with a focus on approaches drawn from systems immunology. This Collection welcomes manuscripts of all types (Original Research, Review, Methods, Perspectives, etc.) covering, but not limited to:
- T-cells and their different phenotypes and subtypes
- Immunotherapies and T-cell directed therapies such as CAR T-cell therapy
- Multiomic profiling of patients receiving T-cell therapy
- Genome-scale models of Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg CD4+ T-cell differentiation and their metabolic programming
- TCR repertoire aanlyses
- Therapeutic applications to cancer and autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, system lupus erythematosus and multiple sclerosis

Keywords: T-cells, CD8+, CD4+, CAR T Therapy, Immunotherapies, Adoptive cell-transfer therapy

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.