Epithelial Immune Crosstalk
Epithelial Immune Crosstalk - Related Videos
01:38
What is the Immune System?
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2019
Overview The immune system comprises diverse biological structures and processes that protect the body from disease. These processes can be classified into innate and adaptive immunity. To work effectively, the immune system needs to detect pathogens by distinguishing the body’s own structures from foreign elements. If this determination fails, autoimmune diseases occur in which the immune system reacts against the body’s own tissue. The Innate Immune System Acts Fast and Non-specifically
11:00
3D Flipwell Engineering for Developing Asynchronous Systems for Toxicologic and Immunomodulatory Therapies in Bacterial, Gut, and Immune Cells
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2025
This article provides a detailed protocol with key steps to guide the 3D Flipwell engineering and utilization. We describe and show how to assemble the co-culture insert stacks and utilize them for co-culturing stratified layers of gut bacteria, gut epithelia, and macrophages to model the gut mucosal environment.
14:48
Flow Cytometric Isolation of Primary Murine Type II Alveolar Epithelial Cells for Functional and Molecular Studies
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Cited by 35 •
2012
We describe the rapid isolation of primary murine type II alveolar epithelial cells (AECII) by flow cytometric negative selection. These AECII show high viability and purity and are suitable for a wide range of functional and molecular studies regarding their role in respiratory conditions such as autoimmune or infectious diseases.
08:32
Engineering Tendon Assembloids to Probe Cellular Crosstalk in Disease and Repair
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Cited by 4 •
2024
Here, we present an assembloid model system to mimic tendon cellular crosstalk between the load-bearing tendon core tissue and an extrinsic compartment containing cell populations activated by disease and injury. As an important use case, we demonstrate how the system can be deployed to probe disease-relevant activation of extrinsic endothelial cells.
05:07
Isolation, Characterization and Functional Examination of the Gingival Immune Cell Network
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Cited by 30 •
2016
We have established a technique for the isolation, phenotypic characterization and functional analysis of immune cells from murine gingiva.
FAQs
Pattern-recognition receptors, or PRRs, let epithelial cells respond to both microbial signals and signals associated with tissue damage. The resulting program can include cytokines and chemokines that organize immune-cell recruitment, antimicrobial factors that strengthen local defense, and alarmins that alert immune pathways. This distinction helps explain why infection and injury can produce overlapping but context-dependent communication.
Immune-derived mediators feed information back to epithelial cells, altering permeability, repair, and defense programs. These changes can help the tissue respond to an active threat or recover after injury, but inappropriate signaling may weaken barrier function or sustain inflammation. Studying this feedback clarifies why epithelial protection depends not only on epithelial responses, but also on the quality and duration of immune input.
Effective signaling coordinates microbial defense with preservation of tissue integrity. When communication is excessive or misdirected, the same interaction can contribute to chronic inflammatory disease or barrier dysfunction. This balance is therefore an important research focus: investigators must consider whether a response improves local protection and repair or instead prolongs inflammation and disrupts homeostasis.
The skin, lungs, and intestine provide distinct sites in which epithelial barriers communicate with immune cells during microbial exposure or injury. Examining these locations helps researchers relate local epithelial signals to tissue integrity, inflammation, and defense. Comparing sites is especially relevant because barrier dysfunction and inflammatory consequences may emerge differently depending on the tissue being studied.
This field supports investigation of host-directed therapies, which aim to influence the patient's protective responses rather than focusing only on microbes. It also informs mucosal vaccine research by highlighting communication at epithelial surfaces. In both cases, the goal is to shape barrier-associated immune activity so that defense improves without promoting damaging or misdirected inflammation.
Restoring tissue homeostasis requires considering both sides of the epithelial-immune interaction. Researchers can examine how epithelial signals recruit or activate immune cells and how immune mediators subsequently affect permeability, repair, and defense. This systems-level view may help identify approaches that reduce harmful inflammation while preserving the coordinated responses needed to address microbes or tissue injury.