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Updated: Jul 2, 2025

Co-Culture of Murine Small Intestine Epithelial Organoids with Innate Lymphoid Cells
Published on: March 23, 2022
Epithelial-neuronal-immune cell interactions: Implications for immunity, inflammation, and tissue homeostasis at
Elizabeth Emanuel1, Mohammad Arifuzzaman2, David Artis3
1Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY; Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY.
Abstract:
The epithelial lining of the respiratory tract and intestine provides a critical physical barrier to protect host tissues against environmental insults, including dietary antigens, allergens, chemicals, and microorganisms. In addition, specialized epithelial cells communicate directly with hematopoietic and neuronal cells. These epithelial-immune and epithelial-neuronal interactions control host immune responses and have important implications for inflammatory conditions associated with defects in the epithelial barrier, including asthma, allergy, and inflammatory bowel diseases. In this review, we discuss emerging research that identifies the mechanisms and impact of epithelial-immune and epithelial-neuronal cross talk in regulating immunity, inflammation, and tissue homeostasis at mucosal barrier surfaces. Understanding the regulation and impact of these pathways could provide new therapeutic targets for inflammatory diseases at mucosal sites.
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