The gut microbiota directs vitamin A flux to regulate intestinal T cell development.

ABSTRACT: The intestinal microbiota shapes adaptive immunity, but the mechanisms remain incompletely defined. Here, we show that the microbiota initiates the movement of retinoids-dietary vitamin A derivatives including retinol and retinoic acid-through a sequential pathway from epithelial cells to myeloid cells and ultimately to T cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes (mLNs). This cellular axis is traversed over three days. Microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) initiate retinoid flux by inducing expression of serum amyloid A (SAA) proteins. These epithelial retinol-binding proteins are necessary and sufficient for epithelial-to-myeloid cell retinoid transfer and for myeloid cell migration to the mLNs. In the mLNs, microbial antigen drives retinoid transfer from myeloid cells to developing T c

SUBMITTER: Srinivasan T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12440027 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature