Advances in Immunotherapy for Organ Transplantation: From Immune Regulation to Precision Therapeutics
Submission Deadline: 30 September 2027
Chief Guest Editor:
Yanxu Chen 
University Of Oxford
Research Interests:transplant immunology, innate T cells, macrophages, Multi-omics
Special Issue Information:
Dear Colleagues,
Organ transplantation is a definitive treatment for patients with end-stage organ failure, yet long-term outcomes remain challenged by immune-related complications, particularly allograft rejection, infection, and malignancy. Advances in transplant immunology are providing new insights into the immune mechanisms underlying these complications and revealing novel targets for therapeutic intervention. Meanwhile, emerging immunotherapies are creating opportunities to move beyond broad immunosuppression toward more selective and individualized immune modulation. This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in immune mechanisms, therapeutic targets, and innovative immunotherapeutic strategies across organ transplantation.
We welcome original research, reviews, perspectives, Methods/Resources, and Trial Protocols covering emerging advances in transplant immunotherapy. Topics of interest include selective immune regulation and tolerance, such as antigen-specific immune modulation, regulatory T-cell and CAR-Treg therapies, therapeutic antibodies, costimulation blockades, targeted immune signaling, and strategies for tolerance induction and immunosuppression minimization or withdrawal.
We also encourage studies on biomarkers, single-cell, spatial, and multi-omics approaches, immune monitoring, and individualized immunosuppression, including donor-derived cell-free DNA and other precision tools for risk stratification and treatment guidance.
Particular interest will be given to immune mechanisms and therapeutic strategies in post-transplant infection and malignancy, especially approaches that balance the control of allograft rejection with the preservation or restoration of antimicrobial and antitumor immunity.
In addition, we welcome emerging therapeutic platforms, including novel small molecules and biologics, targeted drug-delivery systems, ex vivo organ perfusion–based immune modulation, and innovative immunosuppressive strategies in xenotransplantation.
By bridging mechanistic discoveries with therapeutic development and clinical translation, this collection aims to support the transition from generalized immunosuppression toward more precise, effective, and individualized transplant immunotherapy.
Guest Editor
Dr. Yanxu Chen
Keywords:
- Allograft rejection/transplantation tolerance
- Treg/CAR-Treg
- Donor-derived cell-free DNA
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors in transplantation
- AI/ML-guided immunosuppression
- Graft-targeted delivery systems