Brush border alterations in the pathogenesis of intestinal diseases

肠道是具有巨大社会和经济影响的疾病的发病部位，如炎症性肠病（在英国每500人中约有1人患病）和结肠癌（发达国家第二常见的恶性肿瘤）。此外，许多传染性病原体通过肠道进入人体。因此，肠道具有重要的机械和免疫屏障功能。这种屏障的改变是导致肠道疾病发展的多种因素之一。了解肠道屏障如何形成并保持其完整性是预防这些疾病的关键。肠屏障的一个重要组成部分是上皮细胞，它构成了肠中最大的细胞群，并具有所谓的刷状边界。刷子边缘是一个复杂的解剖结构，其组装仍然没有很好地理解。我们将使用具有肠上皮细胞特征的细胞系来研究改变刷状边界成分的后果。通过这样做，我们将了解肠屏障的组装及其对炎症性肠病和其他疾病发展的破坏后果。

The intestine is the location of diseases of enormous social and economic impact, like the inflammatory bowel disease (affecting about 1 person in every 500 in the UK) and the colon carcinoma (the second most frequent malignancy in developed countries). In addition numerous infectious agents use the intestinal tract to gain access into the body. The intestine therefore fulfils an important mechanical and immunological barrier function. Alterations of this barrier count among the diverse factors that predispose to the development of conditions that affect the intestine. Understanding how the intestinal barrier develops and maintains its integrity is key to prevent those diseases. An important component of the intestinal barrier are the epithelial cells, which constitute the largest cell population of the intestine and bear a so called brush border. The brush border is a complex anatomical structure whose assembly is still not well understood. We will use a cell line with characteristics of intestinal epithelial cells to investigate the consequences of altering the components of the brush border. By doing so we will learn about the assembly of the intestinal barrier and the consequences of its disruption for the development of inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions.