Biological Sciences Graduate Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
J Cell Sci. 2024 Jul 1;137(13). doi: 10.1242/jcs.219030. Epub 2024 Jul 12.
Mechanosensing, or how cells sense and respond to the physical environment, is crucial for many aspects of biological function, ranging from cell movement during development to cancer metastasis, the immune response and gene expression driving cell fate determination. Relevant physical stimuli include the stiffness of the extracellular matrix, contractile forces, shear flows in blood vessels, complex topography of the cellular microenvironment and membrane protein mobility. Although mechanosensing has been more widely studied in non-immune cells, it has become increasingly clear that physical cues profoundly affect the signaling function of cells of the immune system. In this Review, we summarize recent studies on mechanical regulation of immune cells, specifically lymphocytes, and explore how the force-generating cytoskeletal machinery might mediate mechanosensing. We discuss general principles governing mechanical regulation of lymphocyte function, spanning from the molecular scale of receptor activation to cellular responses to mechanical stimuli.
力学感知，即细胞如何感知和响应物理环境，对于生物学功能的许多方面都至关重要，包括发育过程中的细胞运动、癌症转移、免疫反应以及驱动细胞命运决定的基因表达。相关的物理刺激包括细胞外基质的硬度、收缩力、血管中的切变流、细胞微环境的复杂形貌以及膜蛋白的流动性。尽管力学感知在非免疫细胞中的研究更为广泛，但越来越明显的是，物理线索深刻地影响着免疫系统细胞的信号转导功能。在这篇综述中，我们总结了近期关于免疫细胞（特别是淋巴细胞）的力学调控的研究，并探讨了产生力的细胞骨架机制如何介导力学感知。我们讨论了支配淋巴细胞功能力学调控的一般原则，涵盖了从受体激活的分子尺度到细胞对机械刺激的反应。
