Title

Immune Reprogramming and Microenvironmental Remodeling in Neural Injury Repair

Description

Neural injury profoundly disrupts the structural, molecular, and metabolic landscape of nervous tissue, triggering a dynamic immune response that actively reshapes the local microenvironment. Beyond mediating inflammation, immune cells orchestrate extracellular matrix remodeling, vascular reconstruction, glial scar architecture, and neural stem cell niche dynamics, thereby determining whether injured tissue progresses toward degeneration or regeneration. Emerging evidence challenges static classifications of inflammatory states and instead reveals highly plastic immune ecosystems that evolve across spatial and temporal scales. However, fundamental questions remain unresolved: What defines a regeneration-permissive microenvironment? Why does peripheral nerve injury enable robust repair whereas central nervous system regeneration remains limited? Can immune responses be durably reprogrammed to reconstruct a functional tissue niche? This special issue aims to integrate mechanistic insights into immune regulation with systems-level understanding of microenvironmental remodeling.

Topics

· Immune-driven remodeling of the neural injury microenvironment

• Extracellular matrix dynamics, scar architecture, and regenerative permissiveness

• Immune-vascular interactions and blood–brain barrier reconstruction

• CNS vs PNS divergence in immune regulation and niche formation

• Immune-glia-neuron crosstalk shaping circuit repair

• Metabolic and epigenetic reprogramming of immune cells after neural injury

• Neural stem/progenitor niche reactivation and immune modulation

• Single-cell, spatial, and multi-omics atlases of injured neural tissues

· Artificial intelligence and machine learning for decoding immune regulatory networks

• Systems biology and computational modeling of regenerative ecosystems

• Data-driven precision immunotherapy and translational validation

Content types

· Perspective:

Providing a forward-looking and conceptually integrative overview of immune reprogramming and microenvironmental remodeling in neural injury repair. These articles should critically evaluate emerging paradigms, unresolved controversies, and translational bottlenecks, and may propose data-driven frameworks integrating multi-omics and computational modeling to redefine regenerative permissiveness.

· Original Research Articles:

Presenting rigorous mechanistic investigations that establish causal links between immune regulation and microenvironmental remodeling. Priority will be given to studies integrating single-cell or spatial multi-omics with functional perturbation, computational modeling, or artificial intelligence–assisted network analysis to uncover actionable regulatory nodes. Cross-species validation and incorporation of human datasets are strongly encouraged.

· Comprehensive Review:

Authoritative and critical syntheses integrating molecular, cellular, systems, and computational perspectives on neuroimmune regulation and tissue ecosystem remodeling. Reviews should emphasize mechanistic convergence, data integration strategies, translational challenges, and future directions enabled by multi-omics and AI technologies.

· Research Letter:

Concise reports describing innovative methodologies, emerging datasets, computational frameworks, or mechanistic insights with strong conceptual implications. Submissions should demonstrate clear biological relevance and analytical rigor rather than purely descriptive profiling.

Deadline

September 30, 2026

Guest editors

Wenyu Fu

Research Scientist

Yale University School of Medicine

Research area: Macrophage, inflammation and osteoimmunology

Email: wenyu.fu@yale.edu

Qi Han

Professor

Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine

Research area: Neuroregulatory mechanisms and intervention strategies in tissue repair and regeneration

Email: qihan8@shsmu.edu.cn

Guodong Sun

Professor

Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Spine and Spinal Cord Reconstruction

Research area: Spinal cord injury 

Email: sgd96@jnu.edu.cn

Ronghan Liu

Professor

Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences

Research area: Clinical work related to degenerative spinal disorders

Email: ronghanliu@email.sdfmu.edu.cn

Zhenhua Li

Professor

School of Medicine, Jinan University

Research area: Single-cell multi-omics and artificial intelligence for systems immunology

Email: lizhenhua915@jnu.edu.cn

Submission guidelines

Please submit your paper through our online submission system. All papers will be peer-reviewed. The submission deadline is September 30, 2026. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together. Research articles, review articles, letters, commentaries as well as perspectives are invited.

hLife adopts format-free submission. Format-free submission means that, provided you include everything necessary for review and using a consistent citation format, you can submit your paper without needing to worry about formatting your manuscript to meet hLife’s requirements.

Please state in the cover letter that your submission is for the special section of “Immune Reprogramming and Microenvironmental Remodeling in Neural Injury Repair”. Article Publishing Charges (APCs) for accepted papers of hLife will be waived by December 2026. 

Submission website

https://www.editorialmanager.com/hlife