Aug. 25, 2006 -- Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center
have identified a protein that is made in the intestinal lining
and targets microbial invaders, offering novel insights into how
the intestine fends off pathogens and maintains friendly
relations with symbiotic microbes. The study, published today in
the journal Science, might lead to new medications aimed at
helping patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The findings
might also aid in understanding the effectiveness of probiotics
mixtures of beneficial bacteria that are added to food products
in boosting the immune system, said Dr. Lora Hooper, assistant
professor of immunology and the paper's senior author.
Scientists have known for decades that microbial cells in the
human gut outnumber the body's own cells by about 10 to 1.
Humans offer a safe haven to these microbes because they help us
to break down food that we can't digest by ourselves. But it
hasn't been clear how we keep these microscopic gut dwellers
from invading our tissues and cau