Manchester Immunology Group, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
Trends Parasitol. 2012 Mar;28(3):93-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2011.12.001. Epub 2012 Jan 16.
Mammals, microflora and gut-dwelling macrofauna have co-evolved over many millions of years until relatively recently when the geographical prevalence of macrofauna in humans has become restricted to the developing world. Immune homeostasis relies on a balance in the composition of intestinal microflora; long-lived macrofauna have also been shown to regulate immune function, and their absence in Western lifestyles is suggested to be a factor for the increasing frequency of allergy and autoimmunity. The intestinal nematode Trichuris muris was recently demonstrated to utilise microflora to initiate its life cycle. The interdependence on one another of all three factors is such that when the balance is perturbed it must be realigned or the consequences may be detrimental to the mammalian host.
哺乳动物、微生物群和肠道大型动物已经共同进化了数百万年，直到最近，人类肠道大型动物的地理分布才局限于发展中国家。免疫稳态依赖于肠道微生物群组成的平衡；长期存在的大型动物也被证明可以调节免疫功能，而在西方生活方式中它们的缺失被认为是过敏和自身免疫频率增加的一个因素。最近的研究表明，肠道寄生线虫旋毛虫利用微生物群来启动其生命周期。这三个因素相互依存，当平衡受到干扰时，必须重新调整平衡，否则后果可能对哺乳动物宿主不利。
