Immunity system complexity: gut immune cells imporrtance (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, January 09, 2024, 15:42 (319 days ago) @ David Turell

They affect many parts of the body:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGwJchvfjLhvTTCjpkhmdChWdGc

"An upset stomach isn’t ordinarily a cause for concern. The human gut hosts a large number of immune cells as well as a diverse community of bacteria and other microbes. This system is as sensitive as it is complex; many factors—from foodborne illnesses to diet and even psychological stress—can throw it out of whack. But sometimes, perturbations in the gut lead to long-lasting health issues. For instance, some studies have linked imbalances in the gut microbiome to autoimmune diseases like arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

"To better understand the gut’s impact on health and disease, scientists genetically engineered mice to express fluorescent proteins in their gut immune cells. These tags allowed scientists to track the cells as they travelled about the body and create a detailed map of their movements. They found that cells originating in the colon travel widely, often zeroing in on sites of inflammation such as tumors and arthritic joints. Meanwhile, disturbances in the intestines—such as changes in the makeup of microbes—temporarily suppressed the migration of some immune cells, while causing others to flock to distant lymph nodes.

"These new findings suggest that the gut microbiome can have a powerful impact on how gut immune cells move. These migration patterns affect immune responses throughout the body, write the study's authors, which could explain the links between gut problems and sundry diseases."

The original article: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.adi0672

"Editor’s summary
There is growing evidence that the interplay among enteric microbiota, dietary antigens, and immune cells located in the gut has systemic impacts in both health and disease. To better understand how the gut mediates interorgan communication, a clearer delineation of gut immune cell migration to the periphery is needed. Galván-Peña et al. used Kaede photoconvertible mice and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to map the migration of immune cells from the colon at homeostasis, after gut injury, and in the context of extraintestinal inflammation. This approach revealed much greater dynamic immunocyte turnover than previously thought and uncovered unique patterns of migration that depended on the nature and location of inflammatory lesion. These findings may help to explain how perturbations in the gut microbiota can engender such distant and potent effects. —Seth Thomas Scanlon" (my bold)

Comment: just amazing to me. The immune system is programmed to offer immediate protections.