Chapter category: Immunology

The Role of T Cells in the Intestinal Mucosa

This chapter appears in the following book:

Oral Tolerance: The Response of the Intestinal Mucosa to Dietary Antigens

Edited by: Olivier Morteau
ISBN: 0-306-47989-3
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Giovanni Monteleone and Thomas T. MacDonald

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The intestine contains the largest population of T cells in the body. This reflects the fact that the intestine has a large surface area continuously exposed to dietary antigens and microorganisms. The gut immune system is therefore fundamentally different from the systemic immune system in that specific responses to pathogens have to take place on a high background of responses to food and bacteria. Intestinal T cells occupy several distinct niches. They are abundant in the organised lymphoid tissue (tonsils, appendix, Peyer’s patches) and are also present in the gut epithelium and lamina propria. Other chapters in this volume deal with Peyer’s patches and their role in immunity and tolerance, and so in this section we will confine ourselves to discussion of cells at the effector arm of the mucosal immune response, the 400 m2 of intestinal mucosa. There is compelling evidence that mucosal T cells (CD4+T cells at least) are the progeny of Peyer’s patch T cells responding to luminal antigens.

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Chapter category: Immunology

The Role of T Cells in the Intestinal Mucosa

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