Natural killer T cells in mucosal homeostasis.
The mucosal-associated lymphoid tissues (MALT), including the gut-associated lymphoid tissues, are a tightly regulated environment. In fact, it might be stated that on the basis of studies from animal models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the major means of peripheral regulation of immune responses in the intestine is not necessarily from processes such as deletion or anergy, but more likely from the controls imposed upon responses due to the activities of a variety of regulatory subsets of cells. One type of regulatory cellular subset that has recently gained attention is the subset of T cells that are associated with CD1d-restricted responses. Recently, CD1d-restricted T cells have been increasingly appreciated to play a significant role in mucosal tissues of the intestine and lung, for example. Insights from these studies have clearly elevated these cells to particular importance in the regulation of a variety of infectious and inflammatory conditions, such as those associated with idiopathic IBD. In this review, we focus on recent observations on the characteristics of CD1d-restricted pathways in mucosal compartments, after a brief introduction into the biology of CD1d and CD1d-restricted T cells.
Kaser
Arthur
A
Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Nieuwenhuis
Edward E S
EE
Strober
Warren
W
Mayer
Lloyd
L
Fuss
Ivan
I
Colgan
Sean
S
Blumberg
Richard S
RS
D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D018928:Immunity, Mucosal / Q000502:physiology; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008221:Lymphoid Tissue / Q000276:immunology