Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Microbiology

Gut defence

The severity of salmonella infections depends in part on how effectively the invaders are destroyed. Incisive experiments now show that host defence in the intestine centres on the aptly named defensins.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Bacterial invasion and the gut response.
Figure 2: Salmonella typhimurium, shown here in culture.

MOREDUN ANIMAL HEALTH LTD/SPL

References

  1. Lehrer, R. I., Lichtenstein, A. K. & Ganz, T. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 11, 105–128 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Lehrer, R. I. & Ganz, T. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 14, 96–102 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Bulet, P., Hetru, C., Dimarcq, J. L. & Hoffmann, D. Dev. Comp. Immunol. 23, 329–344 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Thomma, B. P., Cammue, B. P. & Thevissen, K. Planta 216, 193–202 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Salzman, N. H., Ghosh, D., Huttner, K. M., Paterson, Y. & Bevins, C. L. Nature 422, 522–526 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhang, S. et al. Infect. Immunol. 71, 1–12 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ayabe, T. et al. Nature Immunol. 1, 113–118 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wilson, C. L. et al. Science 286, 113–117 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Nizet, V. et al. Nature 414, 454–457 (2001).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Qu, X. D., Lloyd, K. C., Walsh, J. H. & Lehrer, R. I. Infect. Immunol. 64, 5161–5165 (1996).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Ganz, T. J. Clin. Invest. 109, 693–697 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Metchnikoff, E. Immunity in Infective Diseases (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1905).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomas Ganz.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ganz, T. Gut defence. Nature 422, 478–479 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/422478a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/422478a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing