Intestinal Epithelial Wnt Signaling Mediates Acetylcholine-Triggered Host Defense against Infection.

ABSTRACT: Regulated antimicrobial peptide expression in the intestinal epithelium is key to defense against infection and to microbiota homeostasis. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate such expression is necessary for understanding immune homeostasis and inflammatory disease and for developing safe and effective therapies. We used Caenorhabditis elegans in a preclinical approach to discover mechanisms of antimicrobial gene expression control in the intestinal epithelium. We found an unexpected role for the cholinergic nervous system. Infection-induced acetylcholine release from neurons stimulated muscarinic signaling in the epithelium, driving downstream induction of Wnt expression in the same tissue. Wnt induction activated the epithelial canonical Wnt pathway, resulting in the expression of

SUBMITTER: Labed SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5959051 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature