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Science
Vol. 337 no. 6098 pp. 1115-1119
DOI: 10.1126/science.1225152
  • Report

Compartmentalized Control of Skin Immunity by Resident Commensals

  1. Yasmine Belkaid1,*
  1. 1Mucosal Immunology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  2. 2Immunology Graduate Group, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
  3. 3Cancer and Inflammation Program, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.
  4. 4SAIC-Frederick Inc., National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21701, USA.
  5. 5Lymphocyte Biology Section, Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  6. 6Genetics and Molecular Biology Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  7. 7Bioinformatics and Computational Biosciences Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  8. 8Research Technology Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  9. 9Molecular Pathogenesis Program, Kimmel Center for Biology and Medicine, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  10. 10Dermatology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
  11. 11Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98101, USA.
  12. 12Department of Immunology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
  1. *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ybelkaid{at}niaid.nih.gov

Abstract

Intestinal commensal bacteria induce protective and regulatory responses that maintain host-microbial mutualism. However, the contribution of tissue-resident commensals to immunity and inflammation at other barrier sites has not been addressed. We found that in mice, the skin microbiota have an autonomous role in controlling the local inflammatory milieu and tuning resident T lymphocyte function. Protective immunity to a cutaneous pathogen was found to be critically dependent on the skin microbiota but not the gut microbiota. Furthermore, skin commensals tuned the function of local T cells in a manner dependent on signaling downstream of the interleukin-1 receptor. These findings underscore the importance of the microbiota as a distinctive feature of tissue compartmentalization, and provide insight into mechanisms of immune system regulation by resident commensal niches in health and disease.

  • Received for publication 24 May 2012.
  • Accepted for publication 28 June 2012.