The mucosal immune system in the oral cavity—an orchestra of T cell diversity

The mucosal immune system defends against a vast array of pathogens, yet it exhibits limited responses to commensal microorganisms under healthy conditions. The oral-pharyngeal cavity, the gateway for both the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts, is composed of complex anatomical structures and is constantly challenged by antigens from air and food. The mucosal immune system of the oral-pharyngeal cavity must prevent pathogen entry while maintaining immune homeostasis, which is achieved via a range of mechanisms that are similar or different to those utilized by the gastrointestinal immune system. In this review, we summarize the features of the mucosal immune system, focusing on T cell subsets and their functions. We also discuss our current understanding of the oral-pharyngeal mucosal immune system.

• Publication year

  2014

• Venue

  International Journal of Oral Science

• Publication date

  2014-08-08

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1038/ijos.2014.48PMID 25105816PMCID 4170154
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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• Downloaded from jdr.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on February 22, 2013 For personal use only. No other uses without permission. International and American Associations for Dental ResearchCRITICAL REVIEWS IN ORAL BIOLOGY & MEDICINE Dendritic Cells

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