Molecular Markers of Infectious Diseases

The development of effective strategies for the assessment and control of infectious diseases requires a better understanding of pathogen biology, host immune response, and diseases pathogenesis as well as the identification of the associated biomarkers. Therefore, characterizing and identifying host and pathogen determinants of protection or progression to disease in exposed subjects are the necessary first steps toward disease control. This special issue brings together a body of critical information on selected diseases and provides a peek into infectious diseases markers. Through five reviews, focusing on pathogen factors, host genetic and immunological determinants that lead to protection or disease progression, the authors emphasize the essential role of biomarkers in the design of new effective therapies and vaccines. Also discussed in this issue are the premises of molecular epidemiology studies of infectious diseases. The first review (Beatriz Mothe and colleagues) discusses virological, immune and host genetic markers in the control of HIV-infection. The authors highlight the need to define precise immune correlates of controlled HIV infection for the early assessment of vaccine success in phase I and phase II trials. Also discussed is the identification of host genetic markers that in the future could facilitate the design of gene therapy approaches by either blocking the expression of unfavourable genes or by introducing beneficial components. Mariangela Cavarelli and Gabriella Scarlatti review phenotype variations in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection and progression to disease in both