Lymphatics in the intestinal villi and lymph nodes protect us from sepsis. Jang et al1 showed that ablation of intestinal lymphatics and lymph node lymphatics compromises the architecture of the surrounding tissues, including neighboring blood vessels, and leads to infiltration of the intestinal gut flora into the system, causing a systemic infection followed by fatal inflammatory responses, collectively called sepsis. See Figure 7 in the article by Jang et al that begins on page 2151.
