Immunopathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by inflammation that results from the interaction between the various components of the mucosal immune system and the microenvironment. These components-lu}inal antigens, intestinal epithelial cells (IEC), lymphocytes, and cells of the innate and adaptive immune system and their secreted mediators (cytokines and chemokines)-contribute to the cascade of events that ends in intestinal and systemic damage in a genetically predisposed host. The origin of IBD is as yet unknown, but the beginning of the third millennium has brought several new insights into the immune aberrations in IBD. The progress achieved last year in each component of IBD pathogenesis will be reviewed. In each section, an attempt to develop correlations between experimental findings and human disease is made. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams Wilkins, Inc.