Nutrients help to maintain intraepithelial lymphocytes via aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation.
Channel: NIMRlondon
Date: 2011-10-12

Marc Veldhoen, a scientist from Gitta Stockinger's lab in NIMR's Division of Molecular Immunology, has shown that the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is crucially important for the maintenance of intestinal epithelial cells (IEL). AhR maintains IEL numbers in both the skin and the intestine and therefore helps to maintain barrier integrity.  AhR is a ligand-dependent transcription factor best known for mediating the toxicity of dioxin and therefore also known as dioxin receptor.

The research is published in Cell. See http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/news/eat-your-broccoli