The importance of our gut microbiota in health and disease is well established. Less clear is the role of the commensal microbes on the skin, where they interact with a tissue that, unlike the gut, is not designed for absorption. Yasmine Belkaid and colleagues now examine the nature of the antigen presenting cells that are involved in the dialogue between the immune system and skin commensals. They find that defined skin commensal bacteria elicit a long-lasting CD8~+ T-cell response that is dependent on dermal dendritic cells and is specific to commensals, while preserving tissue homeostasis. The CD8~+ T cells are shown to enhance innate protection against a fungal pathogen.
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