Cells that keep gut bugs in their place

摘要

There is a fine line between help and harm. The trillions of gut bacteria that are important for our health are prevented from escaping to cause havoc in other tissues by special immune cells. A team led by David Artis at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia has demonstrated, using mice, that the immune cells - innate lymphoid cells - confine bacteria to the gut by barricading the lining of the gut and neighbouring tissues. Keeping the microbes in check seems to be important: other research has shown that they are abnormally abundant in the blood of people with Crohn's disease.