Role of ICAM-1 in the Adhesion of T Cells to Enteric Glia: Perspectives in the Formation of Plexitis in Crohn's Disease.

Background & Aims: The presence of myenteric plexitis in the proximal resection margins is a predictive factor of early postoperative recurrence in Crohn's disease. To decipher the mechanisms leading to their formation, T-cell interactions with enteric neural cells were studied in vitro and in vivo.

Methods: T cells close to myenteric neural cells were retrospectively quantified in ileocolonic resections from 9 control subjects with cancer and 20 patients with Crohn's disease.

T cells show preferential adhesion to enteric neural cells in culture and are close to neural cells in the myenteric ganglia of Crohn's patients.

Plexitis in the proximal margin of intestinal resections are associated with post-operative recurrence of Crohn's disease. To understand their formation, in vitro analyzes were performed. T cells adhered preferentially to neuron and glial cells in mixed primary cultures of enteric nervous system and T cell activation increased their adhesion capacity.

Rat enteric glial cells express novel isoforms of Interleukine-7 regulated during inflammation.

Background: Neuroimmune interactions are essential to maintain gut homeostasis and prevent intestinal disorders but so far, the impact of enteric glial cells (EGC) on immune cells remains a relatively unexplored area of research. As a dysregulation of critical cytokines such as interleukine-7 (IL-7) was suggested to exacerbate gut chronic inflammation, we investigated whether EGC could be a source of IL-7 in the gastrointestinal tract.

Methods: Expression of IL-7 in the rat enteric nervous system was analyzed by immunochemistry and Q-PCR.