Image Credit: A color enhanced image of the healthy small intestine where immune cells and epithelial cells are highlighted in green and red. Image credit: Sonnenberg Lab
Production of an essential protein for maintaining a healthy immune response in the intestine called interleukin-2 (IL-2) depends on immune cells known as innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. The study, published April 3 in Nature, is the first to identify these cells and the factors that influence them as potential new targets for treating chronic gut inflammation associated with inflammatory bowel disease or food allergies.
“We have understood for quite a while that IL-2 is important for maintaining a healthy immune response in the gut,” said senior author Dr. Gregory Sonnenberg, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology in medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and a member of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Dramatic inflammation occurs when humans or mice are missing IL-2, but the specific cells that make it and the regulatory pathways controlling its production in the intestine were previously unknown.” To continue reading, click here.