IL7 and intestinal obstruction: Studies of human tissue derived from resected bowel of patients with intestinal obstruction, in conjunction with observations in this mouse model and in human intestinal epithelial cells vitro showed that, as in the thymus (see below), IL7 likely played a role in the KGF effect, presumably through mediation of cross-talk between intestinal epithelial cells which produce IL7, and intraepithelial lymphocytes which express the IL7 receptor and endogenous KGF [149].