Coordination of T cell activation and migration through formation of the immunological synapse.
T cell activation is based on interactions of T cell antigen receptors with MHC-peptide complexes in a specialized cell-cell junction between the T cell and antigen-presenting cell-the immunological synapse. The immunological synapse coordinates naïve T cell activation and migration by stopping T cell migration with antigen-presenting cells bearing appropriate major histocompatibility complex (MHC) peptide complexes. At the same time, the immunological synapse allows full T cell activation through sustained signaling over a period of several hours. The immunological synapse supports activation in the absence of continued T cell migration, which is required for T cell activation through serial encounters. Src and Syk family kinases are activated early in immunological synapse formation, but this signaling process returns to the basal level after 30 min; at the same time, the interactions between T cell receptors (TCRs) and MHC peptides are stabilized within the immunological synapse. The molecular pattern of the mature synapse in helper T cells is a self-stabilized structure that is correlated with cytokine production and proliferation. I propose that this molecular pattern and its specific biochemical constituents are necessary to amplify signals from the partially desensitized TCR.
Program in Molecular Pathogenesis, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine and the Department of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016, USA. dustin@saturn.med.nyu.edu
Michael L
ML
Dustin
D020013:Calcium Signaling; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D019860:Lymphocyte Specific Protein Tyrosine Kinase p56(lck) / Q000378:metabolism; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051746:ZAP-70 Protein-Tyrosine Kinase
D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D019860:Lymphocyte Specific Protein Tyrosine Kinase p56(lck); D051746:ZAP-70 Protein-Tyrosine Kinase