Figge Marc Thilo, Meyer-Hermann Michael
Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
PLoS Comput Biol. 2006 Nov 10;2(11):e171. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0020171.
The interaction of T cells and antigen-presenting cells is central to adaptive immunity and involves the formation of immunological synapses in many cases. The surface molecules of the cells form a characteristic spatial pattern whose formation mechanisms and function are largely unknown. We perform computer simulations of recent experiments on geometrically repatterned immunological synapses and explain the emerging structure as well as the formation dynamics. Only the combination of in vitro experiments and computer simulations has the potential to pinpoint the kind of interactions involved. The presented simulations make clear predictions for the structure of the immunological synapse and elucidate the role of a self-organizing attraction between complexes of T cell receptor and peptide-MHC molecule, versus a centrally directed motion of these complexes.
T细胞与抗原呈递细胞的相互作用是适应性免疫的核心，在许多情况下涉及免疫突触的形成。细胞表面分子形成一种特征性的空间模式，其形成机制和功能在很大程度上尚不清楚。我们对最近关于几何重新排列的免疫突触的实验进行了计算机模拟，并解释了出现的结构以及形成动力学。只有体外实验和计算机模拟相结合才有潜力确定所涉及的相互作用类型。所呈现的模拟对免疫突触的结构做出了明确预测，并阐明了T细胞受体与肽-MHC分子复合物之间自组织吸引力的作用，以及这些复合物的中心定向运动的作用。
