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Computational modeling of the effect of receptor‐ligand complex diffusion on immunological synapse formation in B cells
Author(s) -
Tsourkas Philippos K,
Longo Marjorie,
Raychaudhuri Subhadip
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.1067.3
Subject(s) - immunological synapse , receptor , ligand (biochemistry) , synapse , biophysics , diffusion , chemistry , b cell receptor , t cell , b cell , immune system , t cell receptor , biology , physics , immunology , biochemistry , neuroscience , thermodynamics , antibody
B cell receptors have been shown to cluster at the intercellular junction between a B cell and an antigen‐presenting cell (APC) in the form of a segregated pattern of B cell receptor/antigen (BCR/Ag) complexes known as the immunological synapse. We use a Monte Carlo model to study the effect of diffusion of surface‐bound molecules on B cell synapse formation. Our results show that B cell synapse formation is optimal for a limited range of receptor‐ligand complex diffusion coefficient values, typically one‐to‐two orders of magnitude lower than the diffusion coefficient of free receptors. By tracking individual antigen molecules in our simulation, we have found a nonlinear relationship between the diffusion coefficient and mean‐square displacement of receptor‐ligand complexes. This can be used to deduce the order of magnitude of the diffusion coefficient of receptor‐ligand complexes, something which is difficult to determine experimentally due to the finite lifetime of receptor‐ligand bonds. Our analysis also shows how tracking of individual antigen molecules can provide insight into the mechanism of B cell synapse formation. Thus, our results can guide single molecule tracking experiments to elucidate the synapse formation mechanism in B cells, and potentially in other immune cells.