title: Mechanisms of Oral Tolerance.
abstract: Oral tolerance is an active process of local and systemic immune unresponsiveness to orally ingested antigens such as food. The gut immune system must balance responses to commensal bacteria (microbiome), innocuous antigens, and pathogens. Although it is clear that specialized populations of immune cells and lymph nodes create a unique environment in the gut, there remains evidence to suggest that systemic effector sites also are critical to establishing and maintaining oral tolerance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Immunology, 3300 Thurston Building, CB 7280, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7280, USA. Electronic address: scottcommins@virginia.edu.
authors.forename: Scott P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Commins
mesh_terms: D017951:Antigen Presentation; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology*; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D064307:Microbiota / Q000276:immunology; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D007073:Immunoglobulin E
keywords: Autoimmunity; Food allergy; Mucosal; Oral antigen; Tolerance