Dendritic cell homing.
© Wellcome Trust
Dendritic cell chemotaxis in 3D under defined chemokine gradients.
Dendritic cell (DC) homing to the lymphatics and positioning within the lymph node is important for adaptive immunity, and is regulated by gradients of ligands for their homing receptors. Despite the importance of DC chemotaxis, it is not well understood how DCs interpret gradients of these chemokines in a complex 3D microenvironment. The team of Prof. Melody Swartz (LLCB - Laboratory of Lymphatic and Cancer Bioengineering) provide new quantitative insight into DC chemotaxis in a physiological 3D environment and suggest how different chemokines may signal differently to fine-tune DC homing and positioning within the lymphatic system. These results also have broad relevance to other systems of cell chemotaxis, which remain poorly understood in the 3D context.
Ulrike Haessler et al., PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1014920108 (2011)