Oral tolerance is the state of local and systemic immune unresponsiveness that is induced
by oral administration of innocuous antigen such as food proteins. An analogous but more
local process also regulates responses to commensal bacteria in the large intestine and,
together, mucosally induced tolerance appears to prevent intestinal disorders such as food
allergy, celiac disease, and inflammatory bowel diseases. Here we discuss the anatomical
basis of antigen uptake and recognition in oral tolerance and highlight possible mechanisms …