Unraveling Endocrine and Immune Metabolism: Single-Cell & Spatial Transcriptomics Illuminate Disease Dynamics - Volume II

Given the success of the first edition, we are pleased to announce the second volume of the Research Topic "Unraveling Endocrine and Immune Metabolism: Single-Cell & Spatial Transcriptomics Illuminate Disease Dynamics". Please find the first edition here.The integration of single-cell and spatial transcriptomics with advanced metabolic profiling tools has revolutionized the study of immune metabolism and of endocrine-metabolic-immune crosstalk (immunometabolism), particularly in the context of immune-related disorders. These cutting-edge techniques have provided unprecedented insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive disease processes, offering detailed views of cellular behavior and interactions at an individual cell level. Despite these advancements, a significant gap remains in our understanding of how immune cells adapt their metabolic processes in dynamic disease environments, and of how hormones, adipokines, incretins and other secreted mediators regulate that adaptation. Recent studies utilizing tools such as single-cell Flux Estimation Analysis (scFEA), the Metabolic Cost model (Mebocost), and single-cell Metabolism (scMetabolism) have begun to address these challenges by dissecting the metabolic activities of immune cells. These technologies reveal how metabolic reprogramming within immune cells, driven by nutrient sensing, mitochondrial function and redox signaling, supports or inhibits disease processes. However, the application of these technologies to explore the metabolic underpinnings of immune cell function across a range of immune-related disorders is still emerging. These conditions, characterized by complex metabolic rewiring that supports disease persistence and resistance to treatments, require sophisticated analyses that capture both the static state of immune cell metabolisms and their evolution over time and in response to therapy.This Research Topic aims to bridge these gaps by applying cutting-edge single-cell and spatial transcriptomics tools, coupled with metabolic profiling technologies like scFEA, Mebocost, and scMetabolism. Our goal is to comprehensively map the metabolic pathways that govern immune cell functions, and the hormonal and intracellular signalling events that regulate them, across various immune-related disorders. We seek to explore how immune cells modify their metabolic pathways during disease progression, how these metabolic shifts influence disease outcomes, and how metabolic intervention could alter the course of these disorders. Volume II places particular emphasis on mechanistic interpretation: contributions should move beyond descriptive profiling and identify the endocrine signals, receptor-mediated pathways and cellular mechanisms that underlie the metabolic states they report. By focusing on a broad spectrum of immune-related diseases, this collection hopes to uncover new metabolic targets for therapy and enhance our understanding of the tissue-specific and inter-organ metabolic interactions that dictate immune cell function and disease progression.To gather further insights into the metabolic dynamics of immune cells across various immune-related diseases, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:- Comprehensive Metabolic Profiling: Detailed analyses of immune cell metabolism using scFEA, Mebocost, and scMetabolism.- Endocrine Control of Immune Cell Metabolism: Hormones, adipokines, incretins and cytokines as regulators of immune metabolic states.- Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms: Intracellular signaling, hormone receptor action, mitochondrial biology, nutrient sensing and redox regulation in immune cells.- Inter-Organ and Endocrine-Metabolic-Immune Crosstalk: How adipose tissue, liver, skeletal muscle and endocrine tissues shape immune cell metabolism, and how immune signals feedback on endocrine function.- Disease-Specific Metabolic Insights: Studies on how metabolic pathways differ among various immune-related diseases, where the central question concerns the underlying endocrine-metabolic mechanism rather than the disease itself.- Therapeutic Implications: Exploration of potential metabolic targets for innovative treatment strategies. Topic editors: Yejun Tan, Yang Ke, Zhengtao Liu, Yafeng Zhu Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85656/unraveling-endocrine-and-immune-metabolism-single-cell-spatial-transcriptomics-illuminate-disease-dynamics---volume-ii