Mechanical Activation of Immune T Cells via a Water Driven Nanomotor
Dazhi Xie, Dongmei Fu, Shaoming Fu, Bin Chen, Weidong He, Daniela A. Wilson, Fei Peng
Abstract
Abstract As a key step during immune response, antigen recognition requires direct mechanical interaction between T cells and antigen presenting cells. Upon subjection to mechanical forces, mechanotransduction is triggered. In this study, the mechanical forces generated by water driven synthetic Au‐Zn nanomotors are used to activate mechanosensitive Jurkat T cells. The triggering and activation of the cellular Ca 2 + channel is observed. It is revealed that the mechanosensitive cells experience different degrees of activation upon receiving different mechanical input signals and demonstrate that external mechanical forces can optimize T cell activation. Compared with T cell activation with cytokines which can lead to the risky widespread activation of T cells and systemic immune storm, nanomotors can present mechanical force and achieve localized immune cell stimulation. It is expected that mechano nanomotors will contribute to the emerging T cell immunology field and facilitate more comprehensive understanding of the T cell mechanical response and function.