Interactions Between Intestinal Microbiota and Innate Immune System in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Sep 8, 2012Journal of clinical gastroenterology

How gut bacteria and the body's first immune defense interact in children with inflammatory bowel disease

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Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) results from altered immune homeostasis against gut microbiota, leading to chronic inflammation.

IBD is associated with a failure in maintaining a controlled level of inflammation in the gut.
The innate immune system serves as the first line of defense against microbial threats.
Key genes linked to IBD, such as Nod2 and those involved in autophagy, play a role in microbial recognition and immune pathways.
Commensal microorganisms interact with the intestinal lining and influence immune system activity.
Host factors may affect microbial populations, which can in turn impact susceptibility to IBD.

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Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the result of an altered immune homeostasis within the intestinal mucosa against the gut microbiota, leading to chronic inflammation in genetically predisposed individuals. Under normal conditions, the immune system defends against pathogens and prevents the passage of excessive intestinal bacteria; regulatory pathways must maintain a low-grade, controlled inflammation in a healthy gut, but also induce a protective response against pathogens. The innate immune system is the first-line defense from microbes; dendritic cells, macrophages, and epithelial cells produce an initial, immediate response. The immune system constantly controls commensal bacteria and utilizes constitutive antimicrobial mechanisms to sustain immune homeostasis. The discovery that several genes linked to IBD modulate microbial recognition and innate immune pathways, such as nucleotide oligomerization domain 2 (Nod2), and genes that mediate autophagy (ie, ATG16L1, IRGM), has highlighted the critical role of host-microbe interactions in controlling intestinal immune homeostasis. Commensal microorganisms actively interact with the intestinal mucosa and influence the activity of the immune system as well as the amplitude of the immune response. In contrast, host factors can influence microbes, which in turn modulate disease susceptibility. In this paper, we focus on the mechanisms that mediate host-microbe interactions and how the disruption of this balance leads to chronic intestinal inflammation in IBD.

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Interactions Between Intestinal Microbiota and Innate Immune System in Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

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