Quantitative Analyses of T cell Motion in Tissue Reveals Factors Driving T Cell Search in Tissues

Authors

David J. Torres, Northern New Mexico College, Española, United States.
Paulus Mrass, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, United States.
Janie Byrum, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, United States.
Arrick Gonzales, Northern New Mexico College, Española, United States.
Dominick N. Martinez, Northern New Mexico College, Española, United States.
Evelyn Juarez, Northern New Mexico College, Española, United States.
Emily Thompson, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, United States.
Vaiva Vezys, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, United States.
Melanie E. Moses, Department of Computer Science, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, United States.
Judy L. Cannon, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, United States. Autophagy, Inflammation, and Metabolism Center of Biomedical Research Excellence, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, United States.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-23-2023

Abstract

T cells are required to clear infection, and T cell motion plays a role in how quickly a T cell finds its target, from initial naive T cell activation by a dendritic cell to interaction with target cells in infected tissue. To better understand how different tissue environments affect T cell motility, we compared multiple features of T cell motion including speed, persistence, turning angle, directionality, and confinement of T cells moving in multiple murine tissues using microscopy. We quantitatively analyzed naive T cell motility within the lymph node and compared motility parameters with activated CD8 T cells moving within the villi of small intestine and lung under different activation conditions. Our motility analysis found that while the speeds and the overall displacement of T cells vary within all tissues analyzed, T cells in all tissues tended to persist at the same speed. Interestingly, we found that T cells in the lung show a marked population of T cells turning at close to 180

Recommended Citation

Torres DJ, Mrass P, Byrum J, Gonzales A, Martinez DN, Juarez E, Thompson E, Vezys V, Moses ME, Cannon JL. Quantitative analyses of T cell motion in tissue reveals factors driving T cell search in tissues. Elife. 2023 Oct 23;12:e84916. doi: 10.7554/eLife.84916. PMID: 37870221; PMCID: PMC10672806.