Transplantation has transformed the treatment of end-stage organ failure, hematologic disease, and selected immune-mediated disorders. While advances in surgical technique, immunosuppression, and graft monitoring have improved survival, increasing attention is being directed toward the neurological and neurocognitive consequences of transplantation. Transplant recipients may experience cognitive decline, delirium, neuropathy, pain, neuroinflammation, sleep disturbance, mood symptoms, and neurodegenerative changes that arise from complex interactions among systemic inflammation, ischemia-reperfusion injury, immune activation, infection, metabolic dysfunction, rejection, and long-term immunosuppressive therapy. Conversely, neural and neuroimmune pathways may influence graft tolerance, rejection, recovery, and patient-centered outcomes.
This Research Topic seeks to highlight the expanding interface between transplantation and neuroscience. We welcome original research, reviews, brief research reports, clinical studies, translational investigations, and perspective articles that explore how transplantation affects the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, and how neural mechanisms shape transplant biology. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, cognitive impairment after solid organ or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration; Alzheimer’s disease and dementia risk in transplant populations; pain mechanisms before and after transplantation; immunosuppression-related neurotoxicity; transplant-associated neuropathies; rejection-associated inflammatory signaling; autonomic regulation of graft function; neuroimmune biomarkers; imaging and electrophysiologic approaches; behavioral and quality-of-life outcomes; and interventions aimed at preserving or restoring neurological health.
By bringing together clinicians, neuroscientists, immunologists, transplant specialists, rehabilitation researchers, and basic scientists, this collection aims to define emerging mechanisms and clinical priorities at the intersection of graft biology, systemic immunity, and nervous system function. Submissions that integrate mechanistic insight with clinical relevance are particularly encouraged, as are studies addressing underrecognized neurological complications across diverse transplant populations.
Topic Editor Jared M. Huston is a consultant for, and holds intellectual property and stock options in, Spark Biomedical Inc. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Conceptual Analysis
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
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Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
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