Tezz Quon

1 Introduction Cells sense mechanical signals from the surrounding environment, the extracellular matrix (ECM), and transduce them into biochemical signals through mechanotransductive processes[1, 2] While attaching to their underlying matrix, cells probe it to sense its stiffness, viscosity, and topography.[3-6] Cells then bind to the ECM via integrins, specifically to ECM proteins through so-called focal adhesions (FA).[7, 8] The molecular clutch model[9-11] explains how cells mechanically...

Abstract Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a multifactorial disease and patients frequently experience extraintestinal manifestations affecting multiple sites. Causes of systemic inflammation remain poorly understood but molecules originating from the intestine likely play a role with microbial and host small molecules polarizing host immune cells towards a pro- or anti-inflammatory phenotype.