| 研究実績の概要 |
The aim of the project was to dissect the contribution of the adaptive immune system in establishing the symbiosis between host and bacteria in the gut.
We found that: 1) mice deficient for B cells, T cells or both, fail to support complex bacterial communities in the gut; 2) the reconstitution of T cell-deficient mice with CD4+ T cells expressing the transcription factor Foxp3 (Foxp3+ T cells) restores both the diversity and the phylogenetic structure of bacteria; 3) Foxp3+ T cells helped diversification particularly of the non-virulent Clostridia species, which were recently reported to induce Foxp3. This means that not only Clostridia induce Foxp3, but that the Foxp3+ T cells contribute to the persistence and diversification of Clostridia of the Firmicutes (the most diverse bacterial species in both mice and humans); 4) Foxp3+ T cells act outside and inside germinal centers, by preventing inflammation and by regulating selection of IgAs, respectively; 5) the coating of bacteria with selected IgAs was required to maintain the bacteria in the gut and to prevent the expansion of opportunistic species which could become pathogenic.
The research was published in Immunity, 2014.
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