ROCK regulates the intermittent mode of interstitial T cell migration in inflamed lungs

  • Paulus Mrass
  • , Sreenivasa Rao Oruganti
  • , G. Matthew Fricke
  • , Justyna Tafoya
  • , Janie R. Byrum
  • , Lihua Yang
  • , Samantha L. Hamilton
  • , Mark J. Miller
  • , Melanie E. Moses
  • , Judy L. Cannon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Scopus citations

Abstract

Effector T cell migration through tissues can enable control of infection or mediate inflammatory damage. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms that regulate migration of effector T cells within the interstitial space of inflamed lungs are incompletely understood. Here, we show T cell migration in a mouse model of acute lung injury with two-photon imaging of intact lung tissue. Computational analysis indicates that T cells migrate with an intermittent mode, switching between confined and almost straight migration, guided by lung-associated vasculature. Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) is required for both high-speed migration and straight motion. By contrast, inhibition of Gαi signaling with pertussis toxin affects speed but not the intermittent migration of lung-infiltrating T cells. Computational modeling shows that an intermittent migration pattern balances both search area and the duration of contacts between T cells and target cells. These data identify that ROCK-dependent intermittent T cell migration regulates tissue-sampling during acute lung injury.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1010
JournalNature communications
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2017

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