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Chronic Salmonella Infection Induced Intestinal Fibrosis
Published on: September 22, 2019
Biological functions of connexins in the development of inflammatory bowel disease
Qiaojing Yan1,2, Zhiling Feng1, Bin Jiang1,2
1Colorectal Surgery Center, Nanjing Hospital of Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Abstract:
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of chronic intestinal inflammatory diseases with unknown etiology. Gap junctions composed of connexins (Cxs) have been recently validated as an important factor in the development of IBD. Under IBD-induced inflammatory response in the gut, gap junctions connect multiple signaling pathways involved in the interaction between inflammatory cells with other intestinal cells, which altogether mediate the development of IBD. This paper is a narrative review aiming to comprehensively elucidate the biological function of connexins, especially the ubiquitously and predominantly expressed Cx43, in the pathogenesis of IBD.
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