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Nerve cells in the gut play a crucial role in the body’s ability to marshal an immune response to infection, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.

The study, published in Nature, shows that the immune system and nervous system have co-evolved to respond to infectious threats. This means that scientists looking for ways to treat diseases like inflammatory bowel disease or asthma that involve an excessive immune system response may also have to address the nervous system’s role.

“The immune system and neuronal system don’t act independently,” said senior author Dr. David Artis, director of the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the Michael Kors Professor of Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “They are working together.”