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Mechanotransduction in T Cell Development, Differentiation and Function

Cells in the body are actively engaging with their environments that include both biochemical and biophysical aspects. The process by which cells convert mechanical stimuli from their environment to intracellular biochemical signals is known as mechanotransduction. Exemplifying the reliance on mecha...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rushdi, Muaz, Li, Kaitao, Yuan, Zhou, Travaglino, Stefano, Grakoui, Arash, Zhu, Cheng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7072571/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32033255
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells9020364
Descripción
Sumario:Cells in the body are actively engaging with their environments that include both biochemical and biophysical aspects. The process by which cells convert mechanical stimuli from their environment to intracellular biochemical signals is known as mechanotransduction. Exemplifying the reliance on mechanotransduction for their development, differentiation and function are T cells, which are central to adaptive immune responses. T cell mechanoimmunology is an emerging field that studies how T cells sense, respond and adapt to the mechanical cues that they encounter throughout their life cycle. Here we review different stages of the T cell’s life cycle where existing studies have shown important effects of mechanical force or matrix stiffness on a T cell as sensed through its surface molecules, including modulating receptor–ligand interactions, inducing protein conformational changes, triggering signal transduction, amplifying antigen discrimination and ensuring directed targeted cell killing. We suggest that including mechanical considerations in the immunological studies of T cells would inform a more holistic understanding of their development, differentiation and function.