Nervous System Puts the Brakes on Inflammation
Mucus production (red) in the lung under inflammatory conditions. Picture courtesy of Dr Saya Moriyama.
Cells in the nervous system can “put the brakes” on the immune response to infections in the gut and lungs to prevent excessive inflammation, according to research by Weill Cornell Medicine scientists. This insight may one day lead to new ways to treat diseases caused by unchecked inflammation, such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease.
The study, published March 1 in Science, provides some clues about what might be going wrong in these diseases, which have become more common in industrialized countries, and in helminth infections, which are still a major public health problem in less-industrialized countries. It also may explain how some existing treatments for diseases like asthma work and point to new treatment strategies.
“There is a crosstalk between the nervous system and the immune system, and that plays an important role in regulating acute and chronic inflammation,” said Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Those two organ systems are closely interacting and play an important role in human health and disease.” To continue reading...
A Cellular Tango: Immune and Nerve Cells Work Together to Fight Gut Infections
NEW YORK, (September 6, 2017) – Nerve cells in the gut play a crucial role in the body’s ability to marshal an immune response to infection, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.
The study, published Sept. 6 in Nature, shows that the immune system and nervous system have co-evolved to respond to infectious threats. This means that scientists looking for ways to treat diseases like inflammatory bowel disease or asthma that involve an excessive immune system response may also have to address the nervous system’s role.
“The immune system and neuronal system don’t act independently,” said senior author Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “They are working together.”
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