Journal
BIOTECHNOLOGY JOURNAL
Volume 9, Issue 2, Pages 203-212Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/biot.201300195
Keywords
Cell adhesion; FRET biosensors; Immunological synapse; TCR signaling; T-cell migration
Funding
- Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, l'Institut National de Recherche Medicale, Universite Paris-Descartes
- Universite Aix-Marseille
- l'Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Many recent advances in our understanding of T lymphocyte functions in adaptive immunity are derived from sophisticated imaging techniques used to visualize T lymphocyte behavior in vitro and in vivo. A current challenge is to couple such imaging techniques with methods that will allow researchers to visualize signaling phenomenon at the single-cell level. Fluorescent biosensors, either synthetic or genetically encoded, are emerging as important tools for revealing the spatio-temporal regulation of intracellular biochemical events, such as specific enzyme activities or fluctuations in metabolites. In this review, we revisit the development of fluorescent Ca2+ sensors with which the first experiments visualizing T lymphocyte activation at the single-cell were performed, and which have since become routine tools in immunology. We then examine a number of examples of how fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors have been developed and applied to T lymphocyte migration, adhesion and T-cell receptor (TCR)-mediated signal transduction. These include the study of small GTPases such as RhoA, Rac and Rap1, the tyrosine kinases Lck and ZAP-70, and metabolites such as cAMP and Ca2+. Future development and use of biosensors should allow immunologists to reconcile the vast wealth of existing biochemical data concerning T-cell functions with the power of dynamic live-cell imaging.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available