Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Philippos Demetriou
Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, United States
Research in the field of human immunology is restricted by the lack of a system that reconstitutes the in-situactivation dynamics of quiescent human antigen-specific T-cells interacting with dendritic cells. Here we report a tissue-like system that recapitulates the dynamics of engineered primary human immune cell. Our approach facilitates real-time single-cell manipulations, tracking of interactions and functional responses complemented by population-based measurements of cytokines, activation status and proliferation. As a proof of concept, we recapitulate immunological phenomenon such as CD4 T-cells' help to CD8 T-cells through enhanced maturation of DCs and the effect of PD-1 checkpoint blockades. In addition, we characterise unique dynamics of T-cell/DC interactions as a function of antigen affinity.
