Dear Colleagues,

Although, genetic and environmental factors, infection and Western lifestyles are likely key factors contributing to allergy and autoimmunity development, individual intrinsic biological factors linked to sex are also important triggers contributing to the prevalence of these immunological disorders. Indeed, allergic and autoimmune diseases affect women and men differently. In general, women develop the strongest immune responses and thus the proportion of infected individuals and the severity of many viral, bacterial or parasitic infections are increased in men. However, heightened immunity comes at a steep price, which is the high incidence of autoimmune and allergic diseases in women. It is therefore likely that the immunological mechanisms shaping sex bias in infectious diseases and acquired immunity to pathogens are also the same mechanisms that contribute to the higher incidence of autoimmune and allergic diseases in women. Understanding these pathways may therefore have broader implications, not only for the treatment of these immunopathological disorders, but also to promote optimal protective immunity in response to pathogens or to enhance vaccine efficacy.

To achieve a more extensive understanding of current scientific knowledge and trends in the mechanisms underlying sex differences in allergy and autoimmunity, this Special Issue will focus on the recent findings regarding the evidence for cell-intrinsic regulation of immune cell subsets by sex hormones signaling or genetic mechanisms linked to the regulation of X-linked gene expression. Based on your extensive knowledge and experience, we invite you to contribute with an original report, original observation or review, to highlight:

(i) sex-hormone correlates of protection or exacerbation in autoimmunity and allergy, (ii) genetic evidences for direct impact of sex hormones on the development and function of immune cell populations, (iii) genetic mechanisms linked to X chromosomes, X chromosome inactivation escape or maintenance that could affect immune responses and (iv) recent advances in novel prophylactic and therapeutic approaches based on harnessing biological pathways linked to sex.

Prof. Jean-Charles Guéry
Dr. Sophie Laffont-Pradines
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. Vaccines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.

• SEx-bias in autoimmunity and allergy
• Sex-hormones
• Androgen receptor
• Estrogen receptors
• X-linked genetic mechanisms
• X-chromosome inactivation
• Sex differences in gene expression