Endothelium-on-chip model for the study of T-cell-induced immune defense
Company 2021
Mimetas BV, Oegstgeest, Netherlands
The present study presents an endothelium-on-chip model for the investigation of T cell dynamics in health and disease. The method enables the immune cells to flow in real-time through a three-dimensional blood vessel cultured from human endothelial cells on a membrane-free, microfluidic chip. In an inflammatory reaction, T lymphocytes undergo a multi-stage process. By signalling substances, the T cells are recruited to the inflamed site in the vessel and stick there. Then they leave the vessels and then infiltrate the tissues. To visualize and investigate this process, the model was "supplied with blood" with various fluorescence-labelled T cells. The addition of the inflammation-mediating cytokine TNFα and certain chemokines, as well as the addition of human skin cancer cells, induced transendothelial migration of immune cells. Furthermore, the researchers found a dependency between migration behaviour and the activation state of the T cells. The results show that the model adequately recapitulates the complex process of lymphocyte migration and allows unhindered extravasation of T cells into the surrounding tissue. Due to the user-friendliness and high throughput of the platform, the method proves promising for a routine assay that can improve research into immune diseases and the development of immunotherapy drugs.
A microfluidic 3D endothelium-on-a-chip model to study transendothelial migration of T cells in health and disease
Lenie J. van den Broek
Added on: 08-29-2022
[1] https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/15/8234
