Chapter category: Gastroenterology

Overview of Gut Immunology

This chapter appears in the following book:

GI Microbiota and Regulation
of the Immune System

Edited by: Gary B. Huffnagle and Mairi C. Noverr
ISBN: 978-0-387-79989-6
» Get more information about this book at landesbioscience.com «

Chapter authors:
Katie Lynn Mason, Gary B. Huffnagle, Mairi C. Noverr and John Y. Kao

[+] view image

The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract) plays dual roles in human physiology: digestion and uptake of nutrients and the more daunting task of maintaining immune homeostasis (protecting the body from potentially harmful microbes, while inducing tolerogenic responses to innocuous food, commensals and self‑antigens). The unique architecture of the GI tract facilitates both of these functions; multiple levels of infolding results in an immense overall surface area that allows maximal nutrient absorption while housing the largest number of immune cells in the body. This review will focus on how mucosal immune responses generated in the GI tract are organized and controlled. The gastro‑intestinal associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), which is composed of discrete inductive and effectors sites, is able to discriminate between harmful and harmless antigens while maintaining homeostasis. Inductive sites are organized int o specialized aggregations of lymphoid follicles called Peyer’s patches (PP), while effector sites are more diffusely dispersed. The separation of these sites serves to limit and control immune responses. In addition to its distinct architecture, the GI tract has specialized immune cells that aid in promoting a tolerogenic response to orally introduced antigens, (e.g. subsets of dendritic cells (DCs) and regulatory T‑cells (TR)). Secretory IgA (sIgA), which is produced in appreciable quantities at mucosal surfaces, also promotes an anti‑inflammatory environment by neutralizing immune stimulatory antigens. The mechanisms of induction tolerance are currently poorly understood; however, this tolerant environment limits potentially damaging inflammatory responses to inappropriate stimuli.

Katie Lynn Mason
University of Michigan Medical School

Gary B. Huffnagle
University of Michigan Medical School
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

Mairi C. Noverr
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.

John Y. Kao
University of Michigan Medical School

» Access chapter for $19

Additional chapters from this book:

Negative Interactions with the Microbiota: IBD

Charles L. Bevins and Nita H. Salzman

Mucosal surfaces are colonized by a complex microbiota that provides beneficial functions under normal physiological conditions, but is capable of contributing to chronic inflammatory disease in susce...

The “Microflora Hypothesis” of Allergic Disease

Andrew Shreiner, Gary B. Huffnagle and Mairi C. Noverr

Predisposition to allergic disease is a complex function of an individual’s genetic background and, as is the case with multi‑gene traits, environmental factors have important phenotypic consequ...

Overview of Gut Immunology

Katie Lynn Mason, Gary B. Huffnagle, Mairi C. Noverr and John Y. Kao

Effects of Microbiota on GI Health: Gnotobiotic Research

Robert Doug Wagner

The complex interactions between the GI tract microbiota and the immune system can be simplified for study using gnotobiotic animal models. The importance of cytokines, such as IFN‑γ, TNF&#...

Overview of the Gastrointestinal Microbiota

Vincent B. Young and Thomas M. Schmidt

The community of microbes that inhabits the mammalian intestinal tract exists in a symbiosis with their host. The structure of this community represents the combined effects of selection pressure on t...

The Commensal Microbiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Janet M. Manson, Marcus Rauch and Michael S. Gilmore

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a dynamic environment and therefore the stability of the commensal community, or microbiota, is under constant challenge. Microscopic observations have revealed that...

Diet, Immunity and Functional Foods

Lesley Hoyles and Jelena Vulevic

Functional foods (specific nutrient and/or food components) should beneficially affect one or more target functions in the body. The use of functional foods as a form of preventive medicine has been t...

Host‑Microbe Symbiosis: The Squid‑Vibrio Association‑A Naturally Occurring, Experimental Model of Animal/Bacterial Partnerships

Margaret McFall-Ngai

Many, if not most, animals have specific symbiotic relationships with bacterial partners. Recent studies suggest that vertebrates create alliances with highly complex consortia of hundreds to thousand...

Host‑Microbe Communication within the GI Tract

Christopher A. Allen and Alfredo G. Torres

The gastrointestinal tract is a biologically diverse and complicated system which carries out essential physiological functions that support human health, while at the same time maintaining itself as ...

Positive Interactions with the Microbiota: Probiotics

Marko Kalliomäki, Seppo Salminen and Erika Isolauri

Rigorous research in the field of probiotics is a fairly new phenomenon although first reports about beneficial effects of specific gut bacteria on human health originated already a century ago. A pre...

The Damage‑Response Framework of Microbial Pathogenesis and Infectious Diseases

Liise-anne Pirofski and Arturo Casadevall

Historical and most currently held views of microbial pathogenesis and virulence are plagued by confusing and imprecise terminology and definitions that require revision and exceptions to accommodate ...

Chapter category: Gastroenterology

Overview of Gut Immunology

Additional chapters from this book:

SIGN IN