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HERO ID
7129320
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
M Cells: Intelligent Engineering of Mucosal Immune Surveillance
Author(s)
Dillon, A; Lo, DD; ,
Year
2019
Is Peer Reviewed?
1
Journal
Frontiers in Immunology
EISSN:
1664-3224
Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
Location
LAUSANNE
Language
English
PMID
31312204
DOI
10.3389/fimmu.2019.01499
Web of Science Id
WOS:000473563600003
Abstract
M cells are specialized intestinal epithelial cells that provide the main machinery for sampling luminal microbes for mucosal immune surveillance. M cells are usually found in the epithelium overlying organized mucosal lymphoid tissues, but studies have identified multiple distinct lineages of M cells that are produced under different conditions, including intestinal inflammation. Among these lineages there is a common morphology that helps explain the efficiency of M cells in capturing luminal bacteria and viruses; in addition, M cells recruit novel cellular mechanisms to transport the particles across the mucosal barrier into the lamina propria, a process known as transcytosis. These specializations used by M cells point to a novel engineering of cellular machinery to selectively capture and transport microbial particles of interest. Because of the ability of M cells to effectively violate the mucosal barrier, the circumstances of M cell induction have important consequences. Normal immune surveillance insures that transcytosed bacteria are captured by underlying myeloid/dendritic cells; in contrast, inflammation can induce development of new M cells not accompanied by organized lymphoid tissues, resulting in bacterial transcytosis with the potential to amplify inflammatory disease. In this review, we will discuss our own perspectives on the life history of M cells and also raise a few questions regarding unique aspects of their biology among epithelia.
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