To respond or not to respond - a personal perspective of intestinal tolerance

Mowat, A. M. (2018) To respond or not to respond - a personal perspective of intestinal tolerance. Nature Reviews Immunology, 18, pp. 405-415. (doi: 10.1038/s41577-018-0002-x) (PMID:29491358)

Abstract

For many years, the intestine was one of the poor relations of the immunology world, being a realm inhabited mostly by specialists and those interested in unusual phenomena. However, this has changed dramatically in recent years with the realization of how important the microbiota is in shaping immune function throughout the body, and almost every major immunology institution now includes the intestine as an area of interest. One of the most important aspects of the intestinal immune system is how it discriminates carefully between harmless and harmful antigens, in particular, its ability to generate active tolerance to materials such as commensal bacteria and food proteins. This phenomenon has been recognized for more than 100 years, and it is essential for preventing inflammatory disease in the intestine, but its basis remains enigmatic. Here, I discuss the progress that has been made in understanding oral tolerance during my 40 years in the field and highlight the topics that will be the focus of future research.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mowat, Professor Allan
• Authors: Mowat, A. M.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
• Journal Name: Nature Reviews Immunology
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• ISSN: 1474-1733
• ISSN (Online): 1474-1741
• Published Online: 28 February 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature
• First Published: First published in Nature Reviews Immunology 18:405-415
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy