Dear Colleagues,

Gut microbiota is a key node that integrates a variety of signaling pathways, activated through environmental stimuli, such as diet, genetic, and epigenetic inputs that profoundly affect host metabolism, toxicity, and disease pathogenesis. There is considerable evidence suggesting that a complex interplay between microbiota and innate immunity may mediate development of chronic inflammation that precedes the development of numerous types of diseases. Inflammation and toxicity have been linked with increased DNA methylation in healthy tissues and chronic inflammation has been defined as “a truly epigenetic phenomenon”. Distinct epigenetic changes in various types of immune cells are frequently observed in obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus, and these are associated with alterations in the phenotype, function, and trafficking patterns of these cells. Many of them, at least in the context of metabolic disorders, are linked to toxicity. Epigenetics alterations related to food components, metabolites and environmental factors have also been recognized as important mediators of inflammation and toxicity, with a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. An epigenetic dynamic drives gene transcription during the different phases of inflammation enabling to co-ordinately regulate the activity of toxic mediators at both molecular and cellular level. In this respect, the novel epigenetics and transcriptomics molecular technologies have provided unprecedented opportunity to achieve a wider picture, at multiple levels, allowing concrete advancements in the field. It cannot be denied that the study of transcriptomics and epigenetics provided important insights on the cellular pathways by which toxicity and pathology progress in several disorders, as well as highlighted novel therapeutic options.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the followings:

• Role of microbiota toxins in epigenetic switches leading to complex immune diseases
• The role of microbiota dysbiosis in innate immunity regulation.
• Epigenetics and transcriptomics regulation of innate immune cells mediating the release of toxic mediators.
• Classification and potential functions of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) as mediators of toxicity and inflammation.

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• Toxins
• Microbiota, Dysbiosis
• Inflammatory Mediators
• Epigenetic
• Innate Lymphoid Cells
• Cancer
• Metabolic Disorders
• Autoimmunity