As summarized in Fig. 1, we show that NEC profoundly disrupts the intestinal homeostasis of innate immunity (e.g., changes in IL-6, TLRs, CXCL-1, TGF-β, IL-36 agonist:antagonist ratios), adaptive immunity, and ILC (e.g., dominance of type 3 over type 1, type 2 and regulatory polarization) as well as microbial diversity. The gene discussed is CXCL1; the disease is necrotizing enterocolitis.