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  • Perspective
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Mechanosensing through immunoreceptors

Nature Immunology volume 20, pages 1269–1278 (2019)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 04 November 2019

This article has been updated

Abstract

The immune response is orchestrated by a variety of immune cells. The function of each cell is determined by the collective signals from various immunoreceptors, whose expression and activity depend on the developmental stages of the cell and its environmental context. Recent studies have highlighted the presence of mechanical force on several immunoreceptor–ligand pairs and the important role of force in regulating their interaction and function. In this Perspective, we use the T cell antigen receptor as an example with which to review the current understanding of the mechanosensing properties of immunoreceptors. We discuss the types of forces that immunoreceptors may encounter and the effects of force on ligand bonding, conformational change and the triggering of immunoreceptors, as well as the effects of force on the downstream signal transduction, cell-fate decisions and effector function of immune cells.

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Fig. 1: Immune cells are subjected to external forces from, and apply endogenous forces to, their surroundings, which can be measured by biophysical techniques.
Fig. 2: Single-molecule force techniques for applying forces to immuneoreceptors on immune cells.
Fig. 3: Force-regulated pMHC conformations determine TCR–MHC dynamic bonds.
Fig. 4: TCR mechanotransduction via dynamic catch.

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  • 04 November 2019

    An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by grants from the US National Institutes of Health (U01CA214354, R01AI124680, R01GM122489 and R21Al135753 to C.Z.), from the National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB910800 to W.C. and 2014CB910202 to J.L.) and from the National Science Foundation of China (31470900 and 31522021 to W.C. and 11672317 and 31222022 to J.L.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Cheng Zhu, William Rittase & Kaitao Li

  2. Georgie W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Cheng Zhu

  3. Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Cheng Zhu, William Rittase & Kaitao Li

  4. Department of Neurobiology, Institute of Neuroscience, and Department of Cardiology of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

    Wei Chen

  5. Key Laboratory of RNA Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Jizhong Lou

Authors
  1. Cheng Zhu
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  2. Wei Chen
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  3. Jizhong Lou
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  4. William Rittase
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  5. Kaitao Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cheng Zhu.

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Zhu, C., Chen, W., Lou, J. et al. Mechanosensing through immunoreceptors. Nat Immunol 20, 1269–1278 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-019-0491-1

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