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This article does not mention celiac disease but I suspect that the findings
may have implications for it.  It will be interesting to see what follows
from this.

 <http://www.news.cornell.edu/> 
March 18, 2016
Immune cells' bacteria may fight chronic inflammation
By Geri Clark <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 
March 16, 2016
A population of bacteria inhabits human and mouse immune cells and appears
to protect the body from inflammation and illness, Weill Cornell Medicine
scientists discovered in a new study. The findings challenge conventional
wisdom about the relationship between bacteria and the human body - and
about how the microbes influence health and disease.
The study, published March 15 in Immunity, focused on "good" or "commensal"
bacteria that live in the human intestine and are essential for digestion
and proper immune function. The majority of these commensal bacteria are
found in the tubelike inner core of the intestine, called the lumen. The
intestine itself acts as a barrier, keeping the bacteria inside the lumen
and ensuring that they do not enter the rest of the body. Many reports have
demonstrated that if commensal bacteria managed to escape the lumen, they
would activate the immune system and cause disease.
But in their study, Weill Cornell Medicine investigators identified a group
of commensal bacteria residing in close contact with immune cells outside of
the intestinal lumen that defy this thinking. The discovery may alter the
way scientists understand diseases like HIV, inflammatory bowel disease,
some cancers and cardiovascular disease.
"For a long time, the assumption was that the human body is essentially
sterile and that a physical separation between the immune system and our
commensal bacteria was necessary to prevent chronic inflammation," said lead
author Gregory Sonnenberg, assistant professor of microbiology and
immunology in medicine and a member of the Jill Roberts Institute for
Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
<http://weill.cornell.edu/news/pr/2014/06/new-jill-roberts-institute-for-res
earch-in-inflammatory-bowel-disease-established-at-weill-cornell-m.html>  at
Weill Cornell Medicine. "While this is certainly true for most types of
commensal bacteria, our new data demonstrate a special class of commensal
bacteria that can closely associate with immune cells in a way that is
mutually beneficial for both mammals and the microbes."
To learn more about this population of microbes, the researchers studied
"germ-free" mice - rodents bred to have no bacteria in their bodies and have
no contact with outside bacteria. They added this newly identified class of
bacteria, called lymphoid tissue-resident commensal bacteria (LRC), to the
mice.
The LRC colonized lymphoid tissues - specifically cells in the immune system
- located outside of the intestinal lumen. When Sonnenberg and his
colleagues investigated what the bacteria were doing, they found that they
did not cause inflammation as expected. Rather, they did exactly the
opposite - they limited the inflammatory response in the immune tissue.
The researchers then tried to experimentally induce intestinal tissue damage
and inflammation in the rodents. They found that the mice that had LRC in
their lymphoid tissue were protected.
"So it seems that these bacteria residing in lymphoid tissue are actually
protecting the mice, rather than driving disease as would be expected," said
lead author Thomas Fung, a graduate student in Sonnenberg's lab. "We further
found that the immune responses induced by these bacteria are mutually
beneficial; they not only protected mice from experimental tissue damage,
but they also facilitated bacteria colonization of lymphoid tissues."
These are early findings, but the implications for human health are
important to consider, Sonnenberg added. For example, the prevailing view is
that in people with inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer or HIV
infection, commensal bacteria disseminate from the lumen of the intestine
into the periphery of the body and promote inflammation.
"Our new data indicate that some unique bacteria residing in lymphoid
tissues could instead promote tissue protection and limit inflammation," he
said, "and our research highlights that it will be important to consider
changes in lymphoid tissue-resident microbes during human health and
disease."
The Sonnenberg Laboratory is also investigating whether LRCs can be
developed as an innovative therapeutic approach to limit chronic
inflammation and promote tissue repair in diseases such as inflammatory
bowel disease.
Geri Clark is a freelance writer for Weill Cornell Medicine. 


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