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The crosstalk between enteric nervous system and immune system in intestinal development, homeostasis and diseases

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Abstract

The gut is the largest digestive and absorptive organ, which is essential for induction of mucosal and systemic immune responses, and maintenance of metabolic-immune homeostasis. The intestinal components contain the epithelium, stromal cells, immune cells, and enteric nervous system (ENS), as well as the outers, such as gut microbiota, metabolites, and nutrients. The dyshomeostasis of intestinal microenvironment induces abnormal intestinal development and functions, even colon diseases including dysplasia, inflammation and tumor. Several recent studies have identified that ENS plays a crucial role in maintaining the immune homeostasis of gastrointestinal (GI) microenvironment. The crosstalk between ENS and immune cells, mainly macrophages, T cells, and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), has been found to exert important regulatory roles in intestinal tissue programming, homeostasis, function, and inflammation. In this review, we mainly summarize the critical roles of the interactions between ENS and immune cells in intestinal homeostasis during intestinal development and diseases progression, to provide theoretical bases and ideas for the exploration of immunotherapy for gastrointestinal diseases with the ENS as potential novel targets.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82030042, 32070917, 82111540277, 82202017), the Chongqing International Institute for Immunology (2021YJC01), Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2021 YFA1100800), Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (20JC1417400, 201409005500, 20JC1410100), Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (2022JC001, 2022XD047), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M702160). We would like to thank all members of the HB. L laboratory for discussion. We apologize to all scientists whose valuable contributions could not be cited in this review due to limitations of volume.

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  1. Shanghai Institute of Immunology, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China

    Xindi Wang, Chenbo Ding & Hua-Bing Li

  2. Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine-Yale Institute for Immune Metabolism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, China

    Chenbo Ding & Hua-Bing Li

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  1. Xindi Wang
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Wang, X., Ding, C. & Li, HB. The crosstalk between enteric nervous system and immune system in intestinal development, homeostasis and diseases. Sci. China Life Sci. 67, 41–50 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-023-2376-0

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