Functional analysis of neuro-immune synapse structure by molecular imaging.

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There has been an exponential increase in data illustrating that the nervous and immune systems are not disparate entities. The nerve-mast cell relationship has served as a prototypic association and has provided substantial evidence for bidirectional communication between nerves and immune cells. Mast cells are closely apposed to nerves in a variety of tissues including skin, intestine, and dura mater. Some mast cells actually form membrane-membrane contact with nerve cells. However, the molecules that sustain this association have not been identified. We here found that an adhesion molecule named cell adhesion molecule 1 (CADM1) on mast cells predominantly mediated the attachment to neurites and promoted their functional communication. In addition, among splicing variants of CADM1, the shortest isoform CADM1d showed a unique feature for the contact strength and communication efficiency in nerves and mast cells.