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The future of mucosal immunology: studying an integrated system-wide organ

Nature Immunology volume 11, pages 558–560 (2010)Cite this article

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Over the next 10 years, it will be important to shift the focus of mucosal immunology research to make further advances. Examination of the mucosal immune system as a global organ, rather than as a group of individual components, will identify and characterize relationships between mucosal sites.

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Figure 1: The mucosal immunological system.

Katie Vicari

Figure 2: Reexamining the hygiene hypothesis.

Katie Vicari

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Acknowledgements

We thank P. Ernst, L.C.M. Antunes, A. Bhavsar, M.A. Croxen, R.B. Ferriera, S.R. Shames and B. Willing for discussions and revisions. Supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (B.B.F. and operating grants), the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada (M.W. and operating grants), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (B.B.F. and operating grants), the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (N.G. and M.W.) and the University of British Columbia (B.B.F.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Navkiran Gill and Marta Wlodarska are with the Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,

    Navkiran Gill & Marta Wlodarska

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, B. Brett Finlay is with the Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,

    B Brett Finlay

Authors
  1. Navkiran Gill
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  2. Marta Wlodarska
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  3. B Brett Finlay
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Correspondence to B Brett Finlay.

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Gill, N., Wlodarska, M. & Finlay, B. The future of mucosal immunology: studying an integrated system-wide organ. Nat Immunol 11, 558–560 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni0710-558

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