Biological functions of connexins in the development of inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of chronic intestinal inflammatory diseases with unknown etiology. Gap junctions composed of connexins (Cxs) have been recently validated as an important factor in the development of IBD. Under IBD-induced inflammatory response in the gut, gap junctions connect multiple signaling pathways involved in the interaction between inflammatory cells with other intestinal cells, which altogether mediate the development of IBD. This paper is a narrative review aiming to comprehensively elucidate the biological function of connexins, especially the ubiquitously and predominantly expressed Cx43, in the pathogenesis of IBD.

Keywords:

• Connexin
• inflammatory bowel disease
• gap junction
• gastrointestinal inflammation

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.