Microbial control of regulatory and effector T cell responses in the gut

The human intestine harbors and is in constant contact with 1000 trillion microbes, composed of an estimated 15,000 strains. Recent studies have changed our perspective of commensal microbes from benign but inert passengers, to active participants in the processing of food into useful metabolic components, the postnatal development of mucosal and systemic immunity, and in its long-term steady state function. Although mucosal surfaces have to constitutively integrate a multitude of microbial derived signals, new evidence suggests that defined bacteria or microbial products can play a dominant role in the induction of distinct class of immune responses. In this review we will focus on recent findings associating microbes that colonize or invade the gut, specialized mucosal DCs, and induction of effector or regulatory response in the GI tract.