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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Isolating Lymphocytes from the Mouse Small Intestinal Immune System
Published on: February 28, 2018
[Progress in the role of intestinal goblet cells in intestinal immune regulation]
Wenjuan Yang1, Lihua Lai1, Qingqing Wang2
1Institute of Immunology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Abstract:
Goblet cells (GCs) are single-cell glands of humans and mammals, which are distributed in the epithelia of the respiratory tract, digestive tract, reproductive tract and so on. The mucin 2 (MUC2) in the intestine is mainly secreted by GCs. Mucin, water and inorganic salts form a mucous barrier on the surface of the intestinal mucosa, which plays an important role in resisting the invasion of foreign bacteria and intestinal microbes, maintaining the dynamic balance of intestinal mucosa and regulating the microbial-host immune response. More importantly, the defects of GCs and its secreted mucin are closely related to various diseases of the intestine. We summarized the structure and function of GCs and its research progress in intestinal immune regulation.
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