@article{10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002763, doi = {10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002763}, author = {Vroomans, Renske M. A. AND Marée, Athanasius F. M. AND de Boer, Rob J. AND Beltman, Joost B.}, journal = {PLOS Computational Biology}, publisher = {Public Library of Science}, title = {Chemotactic Migration of T Cells towards Dendritic Cells Promotes the Detection of Rare Antigens}, year = {2012}, month = {11}, volume = {8}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002763}, pages = {1-13}, abstract = {In many immunological processes chemoattraction is thought to play a role in guiding cells to their sites of action. However, based on in vivo two-photon microscopy experiments in the absence of cognate antigen, T cell migration in lymph nodes (LNs) has been roughly described as a random walk. Although it has been shown that dendritic cells (DCs) carrying cognate antigen in some circumstances attract T cells chemotactically, it is currently still unclear whether chemoattraction of T cells towards DCs helps or hampers scanning. Chemoattraction towards DCs could on the one hand help T cells to rapidly find DCs. On the other hand, it could be deleterious if DCs become shielded by a multitude of attracted yet non-specific T cells. Results from a recent simulation study suggested that the deleterious effect dominates. We re-addressed the question whether T cell chemoattraction towards DCs is expected to promote or hamper the detection of rare antigens using the Cellular Potts Model, a formalism that allows for dynamic, flexible cellular shapes and cell migration. Our simulations show that chemoattraction of T cells enhances the DC scanning efficiency, leading to an increased probability that rare antigen-specific T cells find DCs carrying cognate antigen. Desensitization of T cells after contact with a DC further improves the scanning efficiency, yielding an almost threefold enhancement compared to random migration. Moreover, the chemotaxis-driven migration still roughly appears as a random walk, hence fine-tuned analysis of cell tracks will be required to detect chemotaxis within microscopy data.}, number = {11}, }