Watch immune cells dig tunnels in tissues

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White blood cells called cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) dig tunnels in tissues, potentially allowing other CTLs to quickly reach infected cells and tumor cells, researchers report December 1st in Biophysical Journal. The results show that some CTLs move slowly as they create channels through the extracellular matrix (ECM) - a major component of tissues. Afterward, other CTLs move quickly through the channels, presumably to efficiently search for and eliminate target cells.

"The migration behavior of immune cells, as well as their in the ECM, are not well understood and are currently of great interest in physics and biology," says senior study author Heiko Rieger of Saarland University. "Our findings suggest that modulating properties of the ECM of tissue would have an impact on the efficiency of the immune response—and might give rise to ideas for new therapeutic strategies in ."

CTLs play a key role in eliminating pathogen-infected cells and . To find their targets, they have to navigate and migrate through complex biological microenvironments, which are shaped by the ECM. These target cells are often low in number in the early stages of disease development, so the ability of CTLs to quickly search for them is crucial for an efficient immune response.

The ECM mainly consists of proteins called collagens and has essential roles in nearly all cellular functions. In various types of cancer, the network becomes dense, stiff, and highly aligned in the vicinity of tumors, facilitating the transport of cancerous cells and making the ECM an important player in cancer metastasis, invasion, and prognosis. "Understanding the migration and interactions of immune cells in collagen networks is crucial to unravel the underlying details of the immune response and to design effective treatment strategies," Rieger says.

This video shows immune cells tunneling through surrounding tissue. CTLs (bead-stimulated primary human CD8+ T cells) were transiently transfected with mCherry (red). Collagen (5 mg/ml) was stained with Atto 488 NHS (left: in green, right: in grey). CTL migration was visualized using lightsheet microscopy with a 20X objective at 37oC with an interval of 30 sec. A z-stack was acquired with a step size of 1 microns. One layer is shown here. Time stamp is HH:MM:SS. Scale bar is 10 microns. Credit: Sadjadi et al Biophysical Journal

To address this issue, Saarland University researchers mimicked the ECM using 3-D networks with different concentrations of bovine collagen and analyzed the migration trajectories of human CTLs through the matrices using 3-D live cell imaging with lightsheet microscopy. The CTLs showed three different types of motion: slow, fast, and mixed. Mathematical modeling by first author Zeinab Sadjadi suggests that the cells switch between slow and fast states.

Similar movement types have been previously reported for natural killer (NK) cells in collagen in the presence of target cells. NK cells have similar immune functions as CTLs. "The similarity of the characteristics of CTLs and NK cell trajectories points towards a common mechanism for migration of both cell types through collagen networks," Rieger says.

Based on their initial findings, the researchers hypothesized that CTLs move slowly as they push aside and tear apart the collagen fibers to form channels, which facilitate the fast movement of other T cells in the collagen network. Experimental evidence supported this scenario. For example, migrating T cells followed each other on exactly the same track, and cells moved quickly in channel-like cavities within the collagen matrix.

This video shows two immune cells with overlapping tracks. CTLs (bead-stimulated primary human CD8+ T cells) were stained with Hoechst 33342 (blue) and then embedded in collagen matrix (2 mg/ml). Cell migration was visualized using Cell Observer (20X objective) at 37oC with an interval of 30 sec. The migration trajectories were tracked with Imaris8.1.2. The trajectory of the preceding and the succeeding cell are in red and purple, respectively. Time stamp is HH:MM:SS. Scale bar is 7 microns. Credit: Sadjadi et al. Biophysical Journal

One important limitation of the study is that it used synthetic collagen matrices. Living tissue contains many other components that might influence the migratory behavior of immune cells.

Moving forward, the researchers plan to analyze the long-term impact of T on the ECM. They will also examine whether the channels enhance the ability of CTLs to search for in collagen matrices. "Understanding how CTLs migrate in such tissues might lead to new therapeutic strategies in preventing metastasis in early stages of cancer," Rieger says.

More information: Biophysical Journal, Sadjadi et al.: "Migration of Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes in 3D Collagen Matrices" www.cell.com/biophysical-journ … 0006-3495(20)30825-0 , DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2020.10.020

Journal information: Biophysical Journal

Provided by Cell Press

Citation: Watch immune cells dig tunnels in tissues (2020, December 1) retrieved 2 December 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2020-12-immune-cells-tunnels-tissues.html
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