Affiliation:
1. Laboratory of Mucosal Immunology, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
2. Laboratory of Translational Immunology, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands.
3. Institute of Experimental Immunology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
4. Skirball Institute, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Abstract
Location matters for immunosuppression
In the gut, food antigens and resident microbes can trigger unwanted immune responses. Immunosuppressive cell types in the gut, such as regulatory T cells (T
regs
) and intraepithelial T lymphocytes (IELs), help to keep these responses at bay. Sujino et al. report that the specific anatomical location within the gut shapes the properties of the suppressive T cell populations that reside there (see the Perspective by Colonna and Cervantes-Barragan). Using mice, they find that T
regs
primarily reside in the lamina propria. T
regs
migrate to the intestinal epithelium, where they convert to IELs in a process that depends on the microbiota and the loss of a specific transcription factor. T
regs
and IELs also play distinct but complementary roles in suppressing intestinal inflammation.
Science
, this issue p.
1581
; see also p.
1515
Funder
Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust
Japan Foundation for Applied Enzymology
Uehara Memorial Foundation
Alexandre Suerman Stipend
Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences
Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Swiss National Science Foundation
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America
Irma T. Hirschl Award
National Institutes of Health
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)