Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 May 27;34(5):794-806.
doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2011.03.021. Epub 2011 May 19.

Intestinal bacterial colonization induces mutualistic regulatory T cell responses

Markus B Geuking  1 , Julia Cahenzli, Melissa A E Lawson, Derek C K Ng, Emma Slack, Siegfried Hapfelmeier, Kathy D McCoy, Andrew J Macpherson
Affiliations
Free article

Intestinal bacterial colonization induces mutualistic regulatory T cell responses

Markus B Geuking et al. Immunity. .
Free article

Abstract

Mammals harbor a dense commensal microbiota in the colon. Regulatory T (Treg) cells are known to limit microbe-triggered intestinal inflammation and the CD4+ T cell compartment is shaped by the presence of particular microbes or bacterial compounds. It is, however, difficult to distinguish whether these effects reflect true mutualistic immune adaptation to intestinal colonization or rather idiosyncratic immune responses. To investigate truly mutualistic CD4+ T cell adaptation, we used the altered Schaedler flora (ASF). Intestinal colonization resulted in activation and de novo generation of colonic Treg cells. Failure to activate Treg cells resulted in the induction of T helper 17 (Th17) and Th1 cell responses, which was reversed by wild-type Treg cells. Efficient Treg cell induction was also required to maintain intestinal homeostasis upon dextran sulfate sodium-mediated damage in the colon. Thus, microbiota colonization-induced Treg cell responses are a fundamental intrinsic mechanism to induce and maintain host-intestinal microbial T cell mutualism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types