New guardians of the mucosa: Molecular characterisation of M cell biology

我们的目标是第一次完整地定义肠道和肺部M细胞的细胞和分子生物学。我们将阐明M细胞如何在分子水平上发育、调控和发挥作用，以及M细胞如何维持正常的肠道和肺组织，并诱导免疫反应来抵御微生物的挑战。在未来，这些新的见解将成为开发基于粘膜的干预措施和保护肠道和肺部免受感染和炎症问题的疫苗的必要先决条件。利用有效的免疫反应来控制这些挑战具有巨大的基础和长期的生物学意义，并且是当前科学研究的最重要领域之一。

We aim to completely define the cellular and molecular biology of gut and lung M cells for the first time. We will elucidate how they develop, are regulated and function at a molecular level, and how M cells maintain normal gut and lung tissues and induce immune responses to protect against microbial challenges. In the future, the new insights will be essential pre-requisites for the development of mucosal-based interventions and vaccines that protect the gut and lung from infectious and inflammatory issues. The harnessing of effective immune responses to control such challenges, are of enormous fundamental and long-standing biological interest, and are amongst the most important areas of current scientific research.