Fig. (2) Mucosal immune system in cervix. GALT is thought to act as the inductive site for cervical IELs. GALT and cervical mucosal
connect through mucosa-specific T cells which express homing receptors, integrin α4β7 and/or CCR9. Integrin α4β7+ T cells can
differentiate into αEβ7+ T cells upon exposure to TGF-β and expression of integrin αEβ7 facilitates retention of lymphocytes in the
epithelium via interactions with E-cadherin. Integrin αEβ7 is a specific marker of IELs residing in mucosal epithelia and those cells
expressing this antigen on their surface were initially educated in the gut. Oral administration of the therapeutic vaccine can stimulate
directly to the inductive site. LPL: lamina propria lymphocytes.