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Colorectal cancer

A new innate immune sensor — functions from inside the colonic epithelium

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 14, pages 199–200 (2017)Cite this article

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Chronic inflammation is a well-known risk factor for developing colitis-associated colorectal cancer. A new study reports that aberrant activation of innate immune responses increases susceptibility to colitis and colorectal cancer. These findings identify an epithelial cell-intrinsic mechanism by which the innate immune system promotes tumorigenesis through the activation of PI3K–mTOR signalling.

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Figure 1: NLRC3 functions as a tumour suppressor in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs).

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Markey Cancer Center Research Communications Office, especially H. Russell-Simmons and C. Anthony for their support in the preparation of this manuscript. T.G. acknowledges support from NIH grant R01 CA133429. B.M.E. acknowledges support from NIH grants R01CA175105, R01DK048498 and R01DK112034.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, 741 S Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, USA; and at the Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, CC140 Ben F. Roach Building, 800 Rose Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, USA.,

    Tianyan Gao

  2. and at the Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, CC140 Ben F. Roach Building, 800 Rose Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40536, USA.,

    Tianyan Gao

  3. Department of Surgery and the Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, CC140 Ben F. Roach Building, 800 Rose Street, Lexington, 40536, Kentucky, USA

    B. Mark Evers

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  1. Tianyan Gao
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Both authors contributed equally to this article.

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Correspondence to Tianyan Gao.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Gao, T., Evers, B. A new innate immune sensor — functions from inside the colonic epithelium. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 14, 199–200 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2017.10

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