Using immunodificient mice as a model organism, the group around Sidonia FAGARASAN at RIKEN’s Integrated Biomedical Sciences Research Center has found that the protective activity of IgA antibodies in the intestinal mucosa is controled by Foxp3+ T cells which inhibit immune response. Thus, the adaptive immune system, through cellular and molecular components that are required for immune tolerance and through the diversification as well as selection of antibody repertoire, mediates host-microbial symbiosis by controlling the richness and balance of bacterial communities required for homeostasis.
RIKEN news release, July 11, 2014
RIKEN group elucidates control mechanism for homeostasis among intestinal immune system and enterobacteria