GI highlights from the literature

Basic scienceNKp46+ group 3 innate lymphoid cells in intestinal inflammation  Song C, Lee JS, Gilfillan S, et al. Unique and redundant functions of NKp46+ ILC3s in models of intestinal inflammation. J Exp Med 2015;212:1869–82. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a heterogeneous population of lymphocytes that respond to changes in the tissue cytokine microenvironment by secreting effector cytokines. ILCs are divided into three major groups (ILC1–ILC3) according to the cytokines they secrete and transcription factors needed for their development. ILC3s, the focus of this article, are important for host defence against intestinal infections. In mice, ILC3s include two major subsets, LTi-like and NKp46. It is unknown whether the subsets are redundant or have specialised functions. Song and colleagues address this uncertainty by using conditional knockout mice that lack all ILC3 subsets or only NKp46+ILC3s. These strains were crossed to a strain lacking αβ and T cells to...

Source: Gut - January 6, 2016 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: McLean, M. H. Tags: JournalScan Source Type: research