Distal colonocytes targeted by C. rodentium recruit T-cell help for barrier defence.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38600382.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41586-024-07288-1 and PMC identifier 11096101.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Interleukin 22 (IL-22) has a non-redundant role in immune defence of the intestinal barrier<sup>1-3</sup>. T cells, but not innate lymphoid cells, have an indispensable role in sustaining the IL-22 signalling that is required for the protection of colonic crypts against invasion during infection by the enteropathogen Citrobacter rodentium<sup>4</sup> (Cr). However, the intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) subsets targeted by T cell-derived IL-22, and how T cell-derived IL-22 sustains activation in IECs, remain undefined. Here we identify a subset of absorptive IECs in the mid-distal colon that are specifically targeted by Cr and are differentially responsive to IL-22 signalling. Major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) expression by these colonocytes was required to elicit sustained IL-22 signalling from Cr-specific T cells, which was required to restrain Cr invasion. Our findings explain the basis for the regionalization of the host response to Cr and demonstrate that epithelial cells must elicit MHCII-dependent help from IL-22-producing T cells to orchestrate immune protection in the intestine.
Medical subject headings
- Citrobacter rodentium
- Colon
- Epithelial Cells
- Intestinal Mucosa
- T-Lymphocytes