Intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte activation promotes innate antiviral resistance

Intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte activation promotes innate antiviral resistance

Unrelenting environmental challenges to the gut epithelium place particular demands on the local immune system. In this context, intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL) compose a large, highly conserved T cell compartment, hypothesized to provide a first line of defence via cytolysis of dysregulated intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) and cytokine-mediated re-growth of healthy IEC. Here we s...

Intestinal Intraepithelial Lymphocyte

Whence the intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte?

O ne of the most widely accepted principles of immunobiology is that lymphocytes with phenotypic and functional properties o f T cells develop from hematopoietic precursors during a requisite period of intrathymic maturation. This developmental stage appears to prepare T cells for their ability to recognize tissue-borne foreign antigens, and to render the peripheral T cell repertoire tolerant t...

Small intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte levels in cow's milk protein intolerance.

The mean small intestinal intraepithelial lymphocyte count in seven children with untreated cow's milk protein intolerance (CMPI) on a milk-containing diet was significantly higher than 22 control children also having a milk-containing diet. Ten milk-intolerant children on a milk-free diet had a mean intraepithelial lymphocyte count which was significantly lower than the level in the 22 control...

Innate Immune Activation in Intestinal Homeostasis

Loss of intestinal immune regulation leading to aberrant immune responses to the commensal microbiota are believed to precipitate the chronic inflammation observed in the gastrointestinal tract of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Innate immune receptors that recognize conserved components derived from the microbiota are widely expressed by...