This Research Topic is the second volume of the “Autoimmunity and Chronic Inflammation in Early Life” Community Series. Please see Volume I here
The field of pediatric immunology is crucial for understanding how the immune system develops and functions in early life, particularly in the context of autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. The immune system's dual role in defending against pathogens and tolerating self-antigens is a complex and energy-intensive process. In children, the immune system requires additional activation signals compared to adults, leading to ongoing debates about whether this is due to hypo-responsiveness to signaling or a lack of antigen memory. Recent studies have highlighted the need for multiple doses of vaccines, such as the influenza vaccine, to ensure adequate immune priming in children. Despite these insights, the pediatric population remains vulnerable to diseases resulting from immune system disruptions, such as asthma, allergies, and type I diabetes. Current research is addressing these issues, but there is a significant gap in understanding the mechanisms driving aberrant immune responses and their link to inflammatory diseases in children.
This Research Topic aims to explore the pediatric immune response to diseases associated with abnormal immune activation. The objective is to investigate autoimmune and inflammatory conditions in children, focusing on the underlying immune mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. By examining these aspects, the research seeks to answer critical questions about the causes and consequences of immune dysregulation in early life and to test hypotheses related to immune system development and disease susceptibility.
To gather further insights into the pediatric immune response and its implications, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Autoimmune and pediatric rheumatological diseases, such as type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease.
- Inflammatory diseases in premature infants, with a focus on the immune system.
- New potential therapeutic targets for the immune system in infants.
- Activation of the immune system in, and immunotherapies for, common childhood cancers.
We encourage submissions of Original Research, Review, Perspective, and Clinical Trial articles, utilizing animal models, cell culture systems, and human subject studies that integrate high-dimensional datasets. Furthermore, work presenting potential cellular and molecular therapeutic targets are of interest. Overall, we aim to bring additional attention to how aberrant immune responses in the pediatric population relate to common childhood disease, and how such disease processes could be disrupted.
Topic Editor Chrysanthi Skevaki has received funding from Mead Johnson Nutrition (MJN), Hycor Biomedical, Bencard Allergie and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
Keywords: Autoimmunity, pediatric, inflammation, immune response, rheumatological diseases, cancer, immunotherapy
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.
