Immune response to otherwise harmless yeast becomes a problem in Crohn's disease

Almost everyone carries Candida albicans.

The yeast colonizes human mucous membranes—for example, the oral mucosa and the intestine—usually silently, without causing any problems.

The immune system learns early on how to deal with it.

It develops specialized immune cells known as Th17 cells, which keep the fungus in check.

What exactly these cells do in the healthy body, where they originate and why they can become harmful in Crohn's disease have now been systematically uncovered by a research team from the Excellence Cluster "Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation" (PMI) at Kiel University.

The study was published today in the journal Immunity. ...