Topic

Dr. Satoh-Takayama will talk about "Innate Lymphoid Cells and Microbiota: Cross-Talking for Maintaining Mucosal Homeostasis" during our First Conjoint Meeting between ISM and RIKEN, which will take place from October 8-9 in Tokyo, Japan.

Summary

Innate immunity constitutes the first line of host defense and shapes subsequent adaptive immune responses. Among its key players are innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), which comprise three major subsets—ILC1s, ILC2s, and ILC3s—and are functionally similar to helper T cells despite lacking antigen-specific receptors. While the physiological role of the stomach in digestion and microbial sterilization is well known, its immunological function, particularly in relation to ILCs, remains poorly understood.

Their recent findings reveal that ILC2s are dominant in the stomach, where they are induced by both commensal and pathogenic bacteria. These stomach-resident ILC2s are conserved across all age groups and are rapidly activated by bacterial stimuli to produce type 2 cytokines such as IL-5 and IL-13. These cytokines initiate downstream immune responses that contribute to the maintenance of gastric homeostasis.

In this presentation, Dr. Naoko Satoh-Takayama will discuss our recent work on stomach ILC2s and highlight emerging insights into the immune functions of the stomach.

About Dr. Naoko Satoh-Takayama

Naoko Satoh-Takayama obtained her Ph.D. from The University of Tokyo in 2007. After graduation, she began her postdoctoral training with Prof. James Di Santo at the Institute Pasteur in France, supported by a French Government Scholarship. In 2008, she made a seminal contribution to the identification and reporting of a novel cell subset, currently known as group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3). She was appointed as a Chargé de recherche at the Institute Pasteur in 2011. She then returned to Japan and joined Dr. Hiroshi Ohno’s group at RIKEN as a staff scientist in 2015 and was promoted to Senior Research Scientist in 2019. She is currently a Principal Investigator and Unit Leader in the RIKEN ECL Research Program. She is studying the important role of bacteria in regulating immune responses, with a particular focus on the innate lymphoid cells.

First Conjoint Meeting between ISM and RIKEN,
October 8-9, 2025 - Tokyo, Japan
www.microbiota-ism.com/tokyo/

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