RT Journal
A1 Hampton T
T1 EArly microbe exposure
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2012
FD May 2
VO 307
IS 17
SP 1790
OP 1790
DO 10.1001/jama.2012.3995
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2012.3995
AB 
Using mouse models of irritable bowel disease and allergic asthma, a team led by scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston, discovered that germ-free mice raised in sterile conditions had more invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells accumulate in their colon and lungs, resulting in increased inflammation, compared with mice lacking only specific pathogens raised in nonsterile conditions (Olszak T et al. Science. doi:10.1126/science.1219328 [published online March 22, 2012]). Invariant NKT cells secrete proinflammatory molecules in response to foreign antigens and are thought to have a role in ulcerative colitis and asthma in humans.