Diagnosis of infectious and autoimmune diseases depends heavily on laboratory-based assays. Recent advances in immunological diagnostics have significantly improved the detection, monitoring, and management of infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. Accurate diagnosis increasingly relies on the timely identification of microbial antigens, disease-specific antibodies or autoantibodies, and relevant biomarkers, particularly those associated with inflammation and tissue damage, through advanced diagnostic technologies. These innovations have significantly improved the detection of bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections. Likewise, a range of diagnostic techniques such as immunofluorescence, nephelometry, hemagglutination, complement assays, ELISA, immunoblotting, chemiluminescence, and multiplex platforms are widely used for the identification of autoantibodies in autoimmune conditions.
The clinical utility of these immunodiagnostic tools depends on a thorough understanding of their application in diseases such as HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, herpesviruses, tick-borne diseases, syphilis, hepatitis, and Toxoplasma gondii, as well as autoimmune disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes.
This research topic aims to explore these conditions in the context of technological progress in immunodiagnostics. Despite the high sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of current technologies, challenges such as population-specific disease prevalence, variable disease stages, and immunological cross-reactivity may still limit diagnostic accuracy.
We invite submissions of Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, and Perspective articles on topics including, but not limited to:
1. Characterization of autoantibodies and serological markers that differentiate acute from chronic diseases.
2. Application of multi-omics approaches (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) to elucidate dysfunctional immune responses in infectious and autoimmune diseases.
3. Integration of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) for the analysis of large datasets.
4. Discovery of novel immunological biomarkers for early detection, disease severity, prognosis, and therapeutic response prediction.
5. Investigations into the influence of HLA polymorphisms on the development of autoimmune diseases.
6. Comparative analysis of automated versus manual methods for autoantibody detection, including demographic and epidemiological considerations.
7. Advanced techniques for quantifying complement components and evaluating their functional relevance in autoimmune pathology.
8. Recent developments in neutrophil and lymphocyte activation assays for diagnostic use.
9. Systemic and organ-specific immunological profiling to map T cell regulation in infectious and autoimmune diseases.
10. Impact of sample type and interfering substances on test performance, including implications for sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values.
Topic Editor Dr. Rong Fang holds patent Att. Dkt. No.: UTMB-P0388US. The other Topic Editor declares no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
Keywords: Immunological Biomarkers, Autoantibody Detection, Serological Assays, Machine Learning in Diagnostics, Multi-omics Approaches, Immunological Profiling
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.
