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Science 30 November 2001:
Vol. 294. no. 5548, pp. 1848 - 1849
DOI: 10.1126/science.1067117
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Perspectives

IMMUNOLOGY:
A Molecular Gut Reaction

Florence Lambolez and Benedita Rocha

Intraepithelial lymphocytes are a type of T cell that is found nestled among epithelial cells of the gut mucosa. In a Perspective, Lambolez and Rocha explain how IELs protect the gut against invasion by pathogens while also promoting its turnover (Leishman et al.). The secret is the interaction between an unusual class I MHC molecule called TL expressed by gut epithelial cells and an equally unusual CD8 molecule with two a chains expressed by IELs.

The authors are at INSERM U 345, Institut Necker, 75015 Paris, France. E-mail: rocha{at}necker.fr

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)