title: Nanotopography-guided migration of T cells.
abstract: T cells navigate a wide variety of tissues and organs for immune surveillance and effector functions. Although nanoscale topographical structures of extracellular matrices and stromal/endothelial cell surfaces in local tissues may guide the migration of T cells, there has been little opportunity to study how nanoscale topographical features affect T cell migration. In this study, we systematically investigated mechanisms of nanotopography-guided migration of T cells using nanoscale ridge/groove surfaces. The velocity and directionality of T cells on these nanostructured surfaces were quantitatively assessed with and without confinement, which is a key property of three-dimensional interstitial tissue spaces for leukocyte motility. Depending on the confinement, T cells exhibited different mechanisms for nanotopography-guided migration. Without confinement, actin polymerization-driven leading edge protrusion was guided toward the direction of nanogrooves via integrin-mediated adhesion. In contrast, T cells under confinement appeared to migrate along the direction of nanogrooves purely by mechanical effects, and integrin-mediated adhesion was dispensable. Therefore, surface nanotopography may play a prominent role in generating migratory patterns for T cells. Because the majority of cells in periphery migrate along the topography of extracellular matrices with much lower motility than T cells, nanotopography-guided migration of T cells would be an important strategy to efficiently perform cell-mediated immune responses by increasing chances of encountering other cells within a given amount of time.
authors: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Hyoja-dong, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784, Korea.
authors: Keon Woo
authors: KW
authors: Kwon
authors: Hyoungjun
authors: H
authors: Park
authors: Kwang Hoon
authors: KH
authors: Song
authors: Jong-Cheol
authors: JC
authors: Choi
authors: Hyungmin
authors: H
authors: Ahn
authors: Moon Jeong
authors: MJ
authors: Park
authors: Kahp-Yang
authors: KY
authors: Suh
authors: Junsang
authors: J
authors: Doh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000276:immunology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000276:immunology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008857:Microscopy, Interference; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013499:Surface Properties; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000648:ultrastructure