COVID‐19: Infection and Immunity

Dear Colleagues,

The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 has raised a lot of unknowns regarding how an acute infectious disease can cause serious organ damage and long-term consequences in organ functions. Even more crucial is the unmet need of understanding how an acute virus infection can induce, through increased inflammation, such aggressive organ damage. Of particular interest is the consequence of long COVID. The acute and then chronic inflammation can induce immunological sequelae that can be biologically similar to autoimmune diseases. In particular, studies on the B cell population in moderate and severe COVID patients have demonstrated that a subset of B cells, already shown to be persistently activated in Lupus Erythematosus, are expanded, and Plasmablasts that characterize several active autoimmune diseases also are also expanded. These data along with the demonstration that autoantibodies may be induced by the viral infection have led us to explore, through laboratory tests, the cell and molecular biology that can lead to autoimmune features, as well as their clinical manifestations. We will discuss how the infection can activate the immune cells contributing to autoimmunity, how the lab test abnormalities behave over time, and how the long COVID clinical manifestations can be interpreted in a chronic inflammatory context.

Prof. Dr. Gianfranco Ferraccioli
Prof. Dr. Elisa Gremese
Guest Editors

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Prof. Dr. Gianfranco Ferraccioli
Prof. Dr. Elisa Gremese
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• SARS-CoV-2 infection
• follicular helper T cells
• B cell subsets
• autoantibodies