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IBD IN 2020

The intestinal barrier, an arbitrator turned provocateur in IBD

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 18, pages 83–84 (2021)Cite this article

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Key studies published in 2020 demonstrate that an impaired intestinal barrier precedes clinical diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by years. Furthermore, studies identify novel regulators of the intestinal barrier, including intestinal macrophages and diurnal variations of diet–microbiome interactions, which could be future therapeutic strategies for IBD.

Key advances

  • Intestinal barrier dysfunction precedes and predicts the development of Crohn’s disease7,8.

  • Macrophages in the distal colon in mice sense water and fungal metabolite absorption by intestinal enterocytes and regulate the intestinal barrier of the colon9.

  • The small intestinal barrier in mice is regulated by diurnal variations in the diet–microbiome–enterocyte MHC-II–IL-10 axis in intraepithelial lymphocytes10.

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Fig. 1: Intestinal barrier dysfunction precedes the development of Crohn’s Disease.

References

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Bachetta Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Saurabh Mehandru & Jean-Frederic Colombel

  2. Precision Institute of Immunology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA

    Saurabh Mehandru

Authors
  1. Saurabh Mehandru
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  2. Jean-Frederic Colombel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Frederic Colombel.

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Competing interests

J.-F.C. has received research grants from AbbVie, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Takeda; payment for lectures from AbbVie, Amgen, Allergan, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Shire and Takeda; consulting fees from AbbVie, Amgen, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Celgene Corporation, Celltrion, Eli Lilly, Enterome, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, Gilead, Iterative Scopes, Ipsen, Immunic, lmtbio, Inotrem, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Landos, LimmaTech Biologics AG, Medimmune, Merck, Novartis, O Mass, Otsuka, Pfizer, Shire, Takeda, Tigenix and Viela bio; and holds stock options in Intestinal Biotech Development. S.M. has received consulting fees from Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline and Takeda. S.M. and J.-F.C. have an unrestricted, investigator-initiated grant from Takeda to examine novel homing mechanisms to the gastrointestinal tract.

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Mehandru, S., Colombel, JF. The intestinal barrier, an arbitrator turned provocateur in IBD. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 18, 83–84 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-020-00399-w

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