MAIT cells (Mucosal-Associated Invariant T cells) in liver disease and antibacterial response
Dr. Antonio Riva from Institute of Hepatology London, Foundation for Liver Research, United Kingdom will join the Porto Microbiota 2018 Congress which will be held in October 28-30, 2018, at Porto, Portugal and will give presentation entitled "MAIT cells (Mucosal-Associated Invariant T cells) in liver disease and antibacterial response".
Summary of presentation: "The liver is an immunologically active filter that clears the portal blood of food antigens, nutrients and chemical/cellular compounds produced or released by the gut microbiota. With increasing severity of liver disease not only is this ability progressively lost, but we also observe changes in the gut flora, increased gut permeability, increased gut bacterial translocation, a progressive immune deterioration, and increasing susceptibility to bacterial infections that represent a major cause of death in patients with advanced liver disease.
MAIT cells are essential players of the antibacterial immunity and their tissue distribution is intimately linked to the gut-liver axis. Indeed, MAIT cells are highly enriched in the liver and recirculate between the liver and the gut via the portal and the peripheral circulation.
We were the first to describe MAIT cell alterations in alcoholic liver disease and to show that these alterations are gut-related, and we believe that MAIT cell defects are crucial in the dysfunctional antibacterial immunity observed in patients with liver disease."
