Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, United States.
Front Immunol. 2021 Mar 10;12:638725. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.638725. eCollection 2021.
Maintenance of intestinal homeostasis requires the integration of immunological and molecular processes together with environmental, diet, metabolic and microbial cues. Key to this homeostasis is the proper functioning of epithelial cells originating from intestinal stem cells (ISCs). While local factors and numerous molecular pathways govern the ISC niche, the conduit through which these processes work in concordance is the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a ligand-activated transcription factor, whose role in immunoregulation is critical at barrier surfaces. In this review, we discuss how AhR signaling is emerging as one of the critical regulators of molecular pathways involved in epithelial cell renewal. In addition, we examine the putative contribution of specific AhR ligands to ISC stemness and epithelial cell fate.
维持肠道内环境稳态需要将免疫和分子过程与环境、饮食、代谢和微生物信号整合在一起。这一内环境稳态的关键是源自肠干细胞（ISCs）的上皮细胞的正常功能。虽然局部因素和众多分子途径控制着 ISC 生态位，但这些过程协同作用的途径是芳香烃受体（AhR），一种配体激活的转录因子，其在免疫调节中的作用在屏障表面至关重要。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了 AhR 信号如何成为参与上皮细胞更新的分子途径的关键调节因子之一。此外，我们还研究了特定 AhR 配体对 ISC 干性和上皮细胞命运的可能贡献。
