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Immunological synapses

Clearing the path for direct delivery

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 6, page 796 (2006)Cite this article

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A novel mechanism used by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) to deliver lytic granules to the immunological synapse (in this case, a distinct region formed at the contact site of a CTL and a target cell) has recently been described. This mechanism involves the movement of the centrosome — the main microtubule-organizing centre of animal cells — to the immunological synapse, where it transiently comes into contact with the plasma membrane, allowing lytic granules to be delivered directly to the plasma membrane for targeted secretion.

Lytic-granule secretion occurs in the secretory domain of the immunological synapse, which lies next to the central supramolecular activation cluster (cSMAC), but how the lytic granules are delivered to this domain has not been determined until now. Because mobilization of the actin cytoskeleton is required for formation of the immunological synapse, the authors examined the role of actin in lytic-granule secretion. Analysis of actin fused to green fluorescent protein showed that actin was completely cleared from the immunological synapse after conjugation of the CTL with the target cell, indicating that actin is not directly required for lytic-granule secretion.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Stinchcombe, J. C., Majorovits, E., Bossi, G., Fuller, S. & Griffiths, G. M. Centrosome polarization delivers secretory granules to the immunological synapse. Nature 443, 462–465 (2006)

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  1. Olive Leavy
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Leavy, O. Clearing the path for direct delivery. Nat Rev Immunol 6, 796 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1969

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nri1969

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