ABSTRACT
Endocytosis of surface receptors and their polarized recycling back to the plasma membrane are central to many cellular processes, such as cell migration, cytokinesis, basolateral polarity of epithelial cells and T cell activation. Little is known about the mechanisms that control the organization of recycling endosomes and how they connect to receptor endocytosis. Here, we follow the endocytic journey of the T cell receptor (TCR), from internalization at the plasma membrane to recycling back to the immunological synapse. We show that TCR triggering leads to its rapid uptake through a clathrin-independent pathway. Immediately after internalization, TCR is incorporated into a mobile and long-lived endocytic network demarked by the membrane-organizing proteins flotillins. Although flotillins are not required for TCR internalization, they are necessary for its recycling to the immunological synapse. We further show that flotillins are essential for T cell activation, supporting TCR nanoscale organization and signaling.
Subject(s)
Endocytosis/physiology , Lymphocyte Activation/physiology , Membrane Proteins/metabolism , Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/metabolism , T-Lymphocytes/immunology , Animals , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Membrane/metabolism , Humans , Immunological Synapses/metabolism , Membrane Proteins/genetics , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Mice, Knockout , Primary Cell Culture , Signal Transduction/immunologyABSTRACT
T follicular regulatory (Tfr) cells are a subpopulation of Treg cells that have adopted the T follicular helper cell program to localize to the B-cell follicle. Because of the difficulties in generating mouse models in which Tfr cells are selectively affected, determining where and how Tfr cells regulate the germinal center response remains to be resolved. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Dent and colleagues [Eur. J. Immunol. 2016. 46: 1152-1161] describe a simple, elegant mouse model to conditionally delete Tfr cells without impacting on the Treg- and Tfh-cell populations. Their initial studies suggest that Tfr cells have a more complex role than previously thought, particularly with respect to the regulation of immunoglobulin isotype switching to IgA.
