Probing the spatiotemporal dynamics of immune cell surface receptors

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Cells of the immune system, such as T and B lymphocytes, sense their environment using an array of specialized surface receptors. Upon binding a suitable foreign substance, these receptors generate intracellular signals, allowing the cell to respond appropriately to a given stimulus. During cellular stimulation, surface receptors (such as the T and B cell receptors - TCR and BCR) are commonly observed to reorganize their movement and location. For example, TCR and BCR are observed to form sub-micrometer clusters on the cell surface. Our understanding of how receptor signaling leads to changes in receptor motion, and how these dynamic changes affect subsequent signaling, is a key part of our knowledge of the processes governing lymphocyte activation.