Know your neighbors: microbial recognition at the intestinal barrier and its implications for gut homeostasis and inflammatory bowel disease

Role of the intestinal barrier in inflammatory bowel disease.

A critical function of the intestinal mucosa is to form a barrier that separates luminal contents from the interstitium. The single layer of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) serves as a dynamic interface between the host and its environment. Cell polarity and structural properties of the epithelium is complex and is important in the development of epithelial barrier function. Epithelial cells...

Intestinal Autophagy and Its Pharmacological Control in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Intestinal mucosal barrier, mainly composed of the intestinal mucus layer and the epithelium, plays a critical role in nutrient absorption as well as protection from pathogenic microorganisms. It is widely acknowledged that the damage of intestinal mucosal barrier or the disturbance of microorganism balance in the intestinal tract contributes greatly to the pathogenesis and progression of infla...

Paneth cells directly sense gut commensals and maintain homeostasis at the intestinal host-microbial interface.

The intestinal epithelium is in direct contact with a vast microbiota, yet little is known about how epithelial cells defend the host against the heavy bacterial load. To address this question we studied Paneth cells, a key small intestinal epithelial lineage. We found that Paneth cells directly sense enteric bacteria through cell-autonomous MyD88-dependent toll-like receptor (TLR) activation, ...

Know Your Variability: Challenges in Mechanistic Modeling of Inflammatory Response in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Dysregulation of intestinal mucosal immunity: implications in inflammatory bowel disease.