Innate lymphoid cells regulate CD4+ T-cell responses to intestinal commensal bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a recently characterized family of immune cells that have critical roles in cytokine-mediated regulation of intestinal epithelial cell barrier integrity. Alterations in ILC responses are associated with multiple chronic human diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, implicating a role for ILCs in disease pathogenesis. Owing to an inability to target ILCs selectively, experimental studies assessing ILC function have predominantly used mice lacking adaptive immune cells. However, in lymphocyte-sufficient hosts ILCs are vastly outnumbered by CD4(+) T cells, which express similar profiles of effector cytokines. Therefore, the function of ILCs in the presence of adaptive immunity and their potential to influence adaptive immune cell responses remain unkno

SUBMITTER: Hepworth MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3699860 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature