99th Dahlem Conference on Infection, Inflammation and Chronic Inflammatory Disorders: Induction and control of regulatory T cells in the gastrointestinal tract: consequences for local and peripheral immune responses
Regulatory T cells play a crucial role in normal gut homeostasis, as well as during infection with microbial or parasitic pathogens. Prior to infection, interactions with the commensal microflora are essential to differentiation of a healthy steady‐state level of immunoregulation, mediated through both Toll‐like receptor‐dependent and ‐independent pathways. The ingress of pathogenic organisms may, according to the context, promote or reverse the regulatory environment, with onward consequences for inflammation in both the intestinal and extra‐intestinal settings. Appropriate regulation of gut immunity thus depends upon a complex three‐way interplay between host cells, commensals and pathogens, and can exert a major impact on systemic responses including allergy and autoimmunity.