Innate Immunity A – IIDA (81)

Topics

• Development, differentiation, polarization, migration, tissue adaptation, function and regulation  (including transcriptional, translational, epigenetic, metabolic, and bioenergetic regulation) of innate immune cells, including but not limited to dendritic cells, monocytes and macrophages, including tissue-resident macrophages; natural killer (NK) cells, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, innate-like B cell lymphocytes and regulatory myeloid cell populations, including myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs).
• Fundamental cellular immunobiology and effector functions of innate immune cells, including antigen uptake, processing, and presentation; innate immune cell regulation of adaptive immune responses when the primary emphasis is on the biology and function of the innate immune cell; Antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), phagocytosis, efferocytosis, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, intracellular trafficking and organelle biology; complement pathways and their regulation in innate immunity.
• Mechanisms and regulation of innate immune cell survival, stress responses, and cell death, including apoptosis, autophagy, necroptosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and interactions among cell-death and cellular stress pathways that regulate innate immune cell states and functions.
• Trained immunity (innate immune memory), tolerance, and cellular reprogramming, including fundamental cellular studies and animal models of persistent functional adaptation of innate immune cells to microbial, inflammatory, metabolic, environmental, developmental, and aging-related exposures.
• Non-classical T cells, innate and innate-like lymphoid cells, including gamma-delta (γδ) T cells, mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, natural killer T (NKT) cells, invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells, memory-like NK cells, and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), with emphasis on their development, differentiation, cellular states, tissue adaptation, and innate-like functions.

Shared Interests and Overlaps

There are shared interests with Innate Immunity B (IIB) in innate immune cells, inflammation, and responses to infection and injury. Applications emphasizing the development, differentiation, cellular identity and states, polarization, plasticity, tissue adaptation, metabolism, migration, or fundamental functions of innate immune cells may be reviewed in IIA, whereas applications emphasizing the initiation, coordination, recruitment, amplification, regulation, or resolution of integrated innate immune and inflammatory responses, particularly involving multiple cell populations or tissue-level responses, during infection and injury, may be reviewed in IIB.

There are shared interests with Molecular and Structural Immunology (MSI) in mechanisms regulating innate immune cell development and function. Applications in which transcriptional, translational, epigenetic, metabolic, bioenergetic, signaling, organelle, intracellular trafficking, or cell-death mechanisms are investigated primarily to understand innate immune cell development, identity, state, adaptation, or function may be reviewed in IIA, whereas applications principally focused on immune receptor structure and function, signaling pathways, molecular complexes, gene-regulatory mechanisms, or structural, biochemical, and biophysical mechanisms of immune molecules may be reviewed in MSI.

There are shared interests with Adaptive Immunity (AI) in antigen presentation, innate-adaptive immune interactions, immune regulation, and non-classical T-cell populations. Applications emphasizing antigen uptake, processing, and presentation by innate immune cells or regulation of adaptive immune responses by innate immune cells, when the primary emphasis is on the biology and function of the innate immune cell, may be reviewed in IIA. Applications emphasizing conventional B- or T-cell development, differentiation, activation, effector function, memory, tolerance, or other adaptive immune outcomes may be reviewed in AI. For studies of innate-adaptive interactions, assignment should generally follow the immune-cell population and biological outcome constituting the principal mechanistic endpoint.

There are shared interests with Immunity and Host Defense (IHD), Bacterial-Host Interactions (BHI), Viral Pathogenesis and Immunity (VPI), and other pathogen-focused study sections in innate immune responses to infection. Applications using microbes principally as experimental perturbations to investigate fundamental innate immune cell development, differentiation, cellular states, adaptation, trained immunity, organelle biology, or function may be reviewed in IIA; applications principally focused on protective host immunity to a specific pathogen or microbial community may be reviewed in IHD; and applications emphasizing pathogen biology, virulence, immune evasion, pathogen-mediated manipulation of host processes, or infectious disease pathogenesis may be reviewed in the appropriate pathogen-focused study section.

There are shared interests with Mechanisms of Autoimmunity (MAI), Immune Mechanisms of Hypersensitivity and Allergy (IMHA), and Immunobiology of Transplantation and Alloimmunity (ITA) in innate immune cells and immune regulatory mechanisms. Applications emphasizing fundamental innate immune cell development, differentiation, cellular states, tissue adaptation, regulation, or function, with autoimmune disease, allergy, or transplantation serving primarily as experimental contexts, may be reviewed in IIA, whereas applications principally focused on autoimmune pathogenesis and loss of self-tolerance, allergic or hypersensitivity responses, or alloimmunity, graft rejection, and transplant tolerance may be reviewed in the corresponding disease-focused study section.

There are shared interests with Basic Cancer Immunobiology (BCIB) and other cancer immunology study sections in macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), dendritic cells, neutrophils, natural killer (NK) cells, and other innate immune populations. Applications emphasizing the fundamental development, differentiation, cellular states, plasticity, metabolism, tissue adaptation, or intrinsic functions of innate immune cells, with cancer serving primarily as an experimental context, may be reviewed in IIA, whereas applications principally focused on tumor immunobiology, tumor-immune interactions, immunosurveillance, immune suppression or evasion, anti-tumor immunity, or responses to cancer immunotherapy may be reviewed in the appropriate cancer immunology study section.

There are shared interests with Hemostasis, Thrombosis, Blood Cells and Transfusion (HTBT), Cellular Mechanisms in Aging and Development (CMAD), and Cellular Signaling and Regulatory Systems (CSRS) in hematopoiesis, differentiation, aging, metabolism, organelle biology, signaling, and cellular regulation. Applications emphasizing these processes primarily as determinants of innate immune cell development, identity, cellular state, adaptation, or function may be reviewed in IIA, whereas applications principally focused on hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell biology and blood-cell production, general mechanisms of aging and senescence, or broadly applicable cellular signaling and regulatory mechanisms may be reviewed in the corresponding study section.

There are shared interests with organ- and disease-focused study sections, including Lung Immunology and Infection (LII), Digestive System Host Defense, Microbial Interactions and Immune and Inflammatory Diseases (DHMI), Hepatobiliary Pathophysiology (HBPP), Clinical Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumors (CNBT), Atherosclerosis and Vascular Inflammation (AVI), and other organ-system panels reviewing immune and inflammatory mechanisms. Applications emphasizing fundamental innate immune cell development, identity, cellular states, tissue residency, adaptation, or function, with the organ or disease serving primarily as biological context, may be reviewed in IIA, whereas applications principally focused on organ-specific host defense, physiology, inflammation, injury, repair, remodeling, or disease pathogenesis may be reviewed in the appropriate organ- or disease-focused study section.