Discovery Reveals How Immune System Tolerates Friendly Gut Bacteria; New Work Represents Fundamental Advance in Understanding of Mucosal Immunity; Key Communication Between ILC3s and RORγt+Tregs Disrupted in IBD Patients; Findings Might Guide Development of Therapies for IBD

Immune cells called group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) play an essential role in establishing tolerance to symbiotic microbes that dwell in the human gastrointestinal tract, according to a study led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine. The discovery, reported on September 7, 2022 in Nature, illuminates an important aspect of gut health and mucosal immunity—one that may hold the key to better treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colon cancer, and other chronic disorders. The Nature article is titled “ILC3s select Microbiota-Specific Regulatory T Cells to Establish Tolerance in the Gut.”