Innate Immunity in Gastrointestinal Disorders: Basic and Therapeutic Concepts

Knowledge in gastroenterology and hepatology is dramatically increasing and at the same time both disciplines are drifting apart, even though many open and arising questions demand very close interaction. The innate immune system has gained a lot of attention over the last years as we have learned that it lies at the basis of many diseases, with new and important players constantly being identified. Furthermore, the recently begun revelation of the enormously complex microbiome, probably a key driving force of our immune system, has generated even more interest in this field. Therefore, the topic ‘innate immunity in gastrointestinal disorders’ is perfectly suited to bring together gastroenterologists, hepatologists and basic scientists to discuss new developments and to generate new concepts.

Faced with these issues and thanks to the generous support of the Falk Foundation, the Scientific Committee of the Falk Symposium No. 181 had the pleasure to recruit an exceptional faculty from all over the world, reflecting the very best clinicians and researchers in their respective fields. The main focus of the symposium was to highlight the role of the innate immune system in gut and liver diseases. A special emphasis was based on the importance of the gut micro biota, genes and confounding factors in intestinal inflammation and also in liver diseases. This issue of Digestive Diseases contains most of the contributions to the symposium. Many of our excellent and distinguished speakers prepared articles for this issue, giving the reader the opportunity to read an up-to-date and unique review of many aspects of the innate immune system in gastrointestinal disorders. One might hope that with closer interaction between gastroenterologists, hepatologists and basic scientists, effective therapies in either discipline might be more easily and rapidly translated into clinical practice in the near future.