Intercellular Communication in Differentiation

Dear Colleagues,

Tissue repair and renewal entails proper cell-to-cell communication. This process is mediated by secreted hormone molecules and heterotypic cell contact. As all mature cell types are derived from stem/progenitor cells, the initial step is signaling for stem cells to exit the stem state and undergo differentiation. The targets are the stem cell transcription factors, some of which have been identified as biomolecules that can reprogram differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Examples include LIN28A, NANOG, POU5F1, and SOX2. Next, lineage-specific factors instruct the committed cells to develop into various functional cell types. Several have been identified, such as PENK and STC1 in the prostate. In the absence of such communication, cellular differentiation becomes faulty, leading to non-functional immature cells. Cancer is one possible outcome, and disease progression is marked by cancer dedifferentiation, with tumor cells becoming more stem-like over time. The overarching research goal is to identify the unique intercellular communication between each important organ. The exogenous introduction of these secreted biomolecules into diseased tissues could produce a cure by inducing under-differentiated cells to fully differentiate. Aging characterized by organ failure is another disease caused by a gradual loss of signaling and could theoretically be reversed by the restoration of proper signaling.

Dr. Alvin Liu
Guest Editor

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules 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.