Journal of Inflammation Research

Conversations at the Barrier: Immune Cell–Tissue Cell Crosstalk in Mucosal Immunity and Inflammation

Journal of Inflammation Research is pleased to welcome you to submit your research to the Article Collection "Conversations at the Barrier: Immune Cell–Tissue Cell Crosstalk in Mucosal Immunity and Inflammation".

Mucosal tissues of the gut, lung, and urogenital tract are where the immune system most intensively encounters the external environment, and the decisions made there shape immunity well beyond the local site. Epithelial cells, fibroblasts, stromal and endothelial populations, and neurons direct the recruitment, differentiation, and function of tissue-resident lymphocytes, innate lymphoid cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells through cytokines, chemokines, metabolites, neuropeptides, and direct contact. Deciphering this dialogue is central to fundamental questions in immunology: how tolerance to commensals and dietary antigens is established, how local niches imprint tissue-specific programs on shared immune lineages, and how dysregulation of these circuits contributes to chronic inflammation, impaired host defense, and loss of barrier function. Single-cell and spatial technologies now resolve these interactions in situ, linking cellular states to tissue architecture and disease trajectory, and are laying the foundation for a cross-tissue framework of mucosal immunity and microenvironment-targeted therapies.

Chronic mucosal diseases are increasingly understood as failures of this tissue-wide conversation rather than of immune cells alone. In inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, and chronic airway inflammation, resident tissue cells help initiate inflammation and then sustain it, driving fibrosis, remodeling, and persistent loss of barrier function. Some tissue cells retain a memory of prior inflammation that predisposes to relapse. Current therapies act largely on immune cells and leave this altered tissue environment intact, which may explain why many patients never achieve durable remission or complete mucosal healing. Defining which cells communicate, through which signals, and within which niches offers a route to treatments that restore healthy tissue rather than broadly suppress immunity. It would also allow patients to be grouped by the cellular circuits driving their disease rather than by clinical presentation alone, and inform regenerative approaches to barrier repair and the design of mucosal vaccines.

This Collection welcomes high-impact original research, reviews, mini-reviews, perspectives and commentaries, methodology papers, and graphical reviews addressing communication between immune and tissue cells at mucosal surfaces. Key themes include, but are not limited to:

1. Epithelial and immune cell signaling in barrier homeostasis and tolerance;
2. Stromal, fibroblast, and vascular niches shaping immune cell function;
3. Neuroimmune communication at mucosal surfaces;
4. Tissue-resident immune populations in tissue adaptation and repair;
5. Mediators and mechanisms of immune and tissue cell crosstalk;
6. Dysregulated cellular circuits in chronic inflammation, fibrosis, and treatment resistance;
7. Spatial and single cell technologies, organoid and co-culture models of mucosal cell interactions;
8. Translational studies targeting immune and tissue cell interactions for mucosal healing.

Keywords: Mucosal Immunology; Mucosal barrier; Immune – Tissue crosstalk; Tissue microenvironment; Epithelial immunity

Meet the Guest Advisors

Dr. Baiyi Cai received his PhD from the University of Alabama and currently works as a Senior Scientist at AbbVie Inc. He currently serves as an Editorial Board Member in the Journal of Inflammation Research.

Professor Xiuqi Wang is a Professor at the College of Animal Science, South China Agricultural University, where he also serves as Chief Scientist of the Institute of Agricultural Animal Organoid Innovation. His research focuses on adult stem cells, particularly intestinal stem cells and skeletal muscle satellite cells, protein metabolism, including amino acid transport and sensing, and functional feed additives. He has led and participated in major research programs supported by national and regional funding agencies in China, including National Key Research and Development Program projects and National Natural Science Foundation of China projects. His research contributes to a better understanding of intestinal biology, animal nutrition, and nutritional strategies for maintaining animal health and productivity.