Cell-mediated immunity (CMI) is a critical component during immunological responses to infectious diseases, cancer, and autoimmunity. Research into immunological correlates of protection has exposed limitations of vaccine approaches that rely mostly on antibody responses to confer immunity against pathogens. These limits underscore the need for representative biomarkers and establishment of immune monitoring parameters for novel vaccines aiming to elicit cellular immunity.

The main focus of this special issue will be (i) the functional network of protective cellular responses against infection, tumor, and autoimmune conditions, (ii) the approaches used to induce CMI-mediated protection, and (iii) the characterization of the critical parameters useful in optimizing vaccine design and development. This special issue will be an international forum for researchers to summarize recent developments and ideas in the field of cellular immunology, with emphasis on the observational results obtained. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Development of cell-mediated immunity vaccines as an efficient alternative and/or synergistic approach to antibody-based vaccines for viral infections (identification of biomarkers/correlates of cell-mediated immunity after infection, efficacy assessment of cell-mediated immunity vaccination)
• The challenges of immune evasion and immunoprivileged sites in vaccine development
• Mucosal immunity and vaccines
• Role of regulatory T cells in vaccination or the effector/regulatory T-cell balance in vaccine development
• T-cell-based vaccines against chronic (persistent) virus infection and immune exhaustion
• NK cell interactions with monocytes-macrophages, DC, and T, B, and NKT lymphocytes and their implications in the immunity against viral infections, malignancy, and autoimmunity
• Immunometabolism and vaccines
• Antitumor cell-mediated immunity and vaccination strategies
• Vaccination and CD4 T-cell responses
• Exploitation of cross-presentation and autoimmune response in vaccine development
• Selection of effective adjuvants in cell-mediated immune vaccination against pathogenic microorganisms, tumors, and/or autoimmunity
• New approaches to enhance regulatory cell-mediated immunity in autoimmune conditions and cell-mediated vaccine approach to autoimmune diseases

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jir/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/jir/cmiv/ according to the following timetable: