Inflammatory memory primes the intestine for enhanced regenerative potential.

Inflammatory exposure and cellular plasticity imprint a lasting transcriptional and epigenetic memory on intestinal stem cells and progeny, priming enhanced repair after subsequent injuries.

• Why it matters: Inflammation and plasticity are hallmarks of intestinal regeneration, but their long-term effects on epithelial cell behavior and future injury responses remain unclear.
• What they did: Using single-cell multiomics, the study maps lasting transcriptional and epigenetic changes in ISCs and progeny and identifies IFN-γ as a critical driver of the primed regenerative state.
• The result: Prior inflammation reprograms regenerative capacity, implying tissue resilience and altered disease susceptibility through an IFN-γ-linked primed state.