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.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Mucosal immunology

Intestinal tuft cells: weep, sweep … secrete

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 24, page 455 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

Two papers in Immunity describe a role for acetylcholine (ACh) secretion by intestinal tuft cells in the anti-helminth response, independent of signalling to classical immune cells, via direct effects on epithelial cells and worms.

One such effector is ACh, which is released by tuft cells via expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT). Neuronal ACh regulates epithelial secretion of fluid, mucus and antimicrobial peptides, but non-neuronal functions of tuft cell-derived ACh in the intestine were previously unknown.

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

Access options

References

Original articles

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nature Reviews Immunology http://www.nature.com/nri/

    Kirsty Minton

Authors
  1. Kirsty Minton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirsty Minton.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Minton, K. Intestinal tuft cells: weep, sweep … secrete. Nat Rev Immunol 24, 455 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-024-01052-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-024-01052-2

Search

Advanced 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