Complex signaling between blood, stem cells controls regeneration in fly gut

Having a healthy gut may well depend on maintaining a complex signaling dance between immune cells and the stem cells that line the intestine. Scientists report significant new insight into how these interactions control intestinal regeneration after an infection. It's a dance that ensures repair after a challenge, but that also goes awry in aging fruit flies. The work offers important new clues into possible causes of age-related human maladies, including IBS and colorectal cancer.