How intestinal epithelial cells tolerise dendritic cells and its relevance to inflammatory bowel disease
- 1Gastrointestinal Section, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK
- 2Division of Gastroenterology, Teaching, Research and Wellness Centre, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Correspondence to Professor S Ghosh, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Calgary, TRW Centre, 3280 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1; ghosh{at}ucalgary.ca
Abstract
Intestinal epithelial layer is an important barrier against antigen invasion. In addition to its barrier function, the immunomodulatory role of intestinal epithelium is attracting considerable attention. The intestinal epithelium may influence underlying immune cells including dendritic cells and lymphocytes and promote tolerogenic and regulatory responses in health. Breakdown of such regulatory influences may result in uncontrolled inflammation and tissue damage. The molecules mediating such regulation derived from intestinal epithelium and their interaction with immune cells may provide novel targets and therapeutic molecules that have translational potential in intestinal inflammation. Understanding the cross-talk between intestinal epithelium and immune cells has progressed from in vitro co-culture models to epithelial cell conditional knockout models.
Footnotes
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Funding MS and SG acknowledge funding from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre Funding Scheme.
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Competing interests None.
