The pathogenesis of organ-specific autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) is regulated by genetic and environmental factors. There is increasing evidence that environmental factors acting at the intestinal level, with a special regard to the diverse bacterial species that constitute the microbiota, influence the course of autoimmune diseases in tissues outside the intestine both in humans and in preclinical models. In this review we recapitulate current knowledge on the intestinal immune system, its role in local and systemic immune responses and how multiple environmental factors can shape these responses with pathologic or beneficial outcomes for autoimmune diseases such T1D.
Keywords: Intestinal immunity; Th17 cells; autoimmune diseases; dendritic cells; diet; microbiota; regulatory T cells; type 1 diabetes.