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Intestinal epithelial cells as watchdogs for the natural immune system
L Eckmann1, M F Kagnoff, J Fierer
1Dept of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093, USA.
Trends in Microbiology
|March 1, 1995
Abstract:
Intestinal epithelial cells secrete a spectrum of chemoattractant and proinflammatory cytokines after invasion by bacteria. We suggest the novel concept that epithelial cells not only act as a mechanical barrier to invasive bacteria, but that they also signal the presence of invasive pathogens to the mucosal immune and inflammatory cells.