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Gut check

How double-edged bacteria could help -- or harm -- the gut’s immune system

February 15, 2018 12:04 AM UTC

A Nature study from New York University has shown the T cell regulator MAF determines whether the intestinal immune system of mice responds to certain bacteria with a protective Treg population or a pro-inflammatory Th17 population. This two-sided response could explain how some microbes -- dubbed “pathobionts” for their ability to induce pathogenic T cells -- contribute to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other gut autoimmune diseases, and also suggests a strategy for treating them.

“Shifting the microbiota towards a Treg-inducing microbiota might be a way to develop therapies for IBD,” said author Dan Littman, a professor of molecular immunology at the NYU School of Medicine...