Lectin recruits pathogenic bugs

Charles R Schutt1, Sho Yamasaki1,2

  • 1Department of Molecular Immunology, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.

Colitis is an irritable bowel disorder affecting about 7 million patients worldwide, but the causes are diverse and not fully understood. In this issue, Matute et al. (2022. J. Exp. Med.https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20211938) found that a stress-induced lectin, intelectin-1, recruits pathogenic bacteria to the gut and exacerbates colitis.

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