Lymphocyte migration is crucial for adaptive immunity. CCR7 and its ligands mediate the migration and positioning of T cells in lymph nodes but the underlying mechanism is complex. The research in this thesis investigated CCR7-mediated T cell migration using a microfluidics-based approach. A microfluidic method suitable for quantitative migration analysis of genetically modified lymphocyte transfectants was developed. Using this method, I demonstrated chemotaxis of Jurkat transfectants expressing wild-type or C-terminal mutated CCR7 to a CCL19 gradient, and characterized the difference in transfectant migration mediated by wild-type and mutant CCR7. The fluorescent tag allows identification of CCR7-expressing transfectants in cell migration analysis, and microscopy assessment of CCR7 dynamics in migrating cells. Furthermore, my results also showed interesting migratory behaviours of CCR7 Jurkat transfectants in a specific co-existing CCL19 and CCL21 fields. This developed method will be broadly useful for studying cell migration signalling.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MANITOBA/oai:mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca:1993/23886 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Wu, Xun |
| Contributors | Lin, Francis (Immunology) Marshall, Aaron (Immunology), Kung, Sam (Immunology) Kormish, Jay (Biological Science) |
| Publisher | The Royal Society of Chemistry |
| Source Sets | University of Manitoba Canada |
| Detected Language | English |
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