Retinoic acid (RA), a dietary vitamin A metabolite, is crucial in maintaining intestinal
homeostasis. RA acts on intestinal leukocytes to modulate their lineage commitment and
function. Although the role of RA has been characterized in immune cells, whether intestinal
epithelial cells (IECs) rely on RA signaling to exert their immune-regulatory function has not
been examined. Here we demonstrate that lack of RA receptor α (RARα) signaling in IECs
results in deregulated epithelial lineage specification, leading to increased numbers of …