Phenotyping polarization dynamics of immune cells using a lipid droplet-cell pairing microfluidic platform

Léa Pinon (1, 2) , Nicolas Ruyssen (3) , Judith Pineau (4) , Olivier Mesdjian (1, 2) , Damien Cuvelier (5, 2, 6) , Anna Chipont (7) , Rachele Allena (8) , Coralie L Guerin , Sophie Asnacios (9, 10) , Atef Asnacios (9) , Paolo Pierobon (11) , Jacques Fattaccioli (1, 2)

1 PASTEUR - Processus d'Activation Sélective par Transfert d'Energie Uni-électronique ou Radiatif (UMR 8640)
2 IPGG - Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la Microfluidique
3 IBHGC - Institut de Biomécanique Humaine Georges Charpak
4 Centre de recherche de l'Institut Curie [Paris]
5 Biologie Cellulaire et Cancer
6 UFR de Chimie - UFR 926 [Sorbonne Université]
7 Plateforme de cytométrie [Institut Curie]
8 LJAD - Laboratoire Jean Alexandre Dieudonné
9 MSC - Matière et Systèmes Complexes
10 UFR 925 - Sorbonne Université - Faculté de Physique
11 U932 - Immunité et cancer

The immune synapse is the tight contact zone between a lymphocyte and a cell presenting its cognate antigen. This structure serves as a signaling platform and entails a polarization of intracellular components necessary to the immunological function of the cell. While the surface properties of the presenting cell are known to control the formation of the synapse, their impact on polarization has not yet been studied. Using functional lipid droplets as tunable artificial presenting cells combined with a microfluidic pairing device, we simultaneously observe synchronized synapses and dynamically quantify polarization patterns of individual B cells. By assessing how ligand concentration, surface fluidity, and substrate rigidity impact lysosome po- larization, we show that its onset and kinetics depend on the local antigen concentration at the synapse and on substrate rigidity. Our experimental system enables a fine phenotyping of monoclonal cell populations based on their synaptic readout.

Domaines: Biophysique; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Organisation et fonctions cellulaires [q-bio.SC]

Léa Pinon, Nicolas Ruyssen, Judith Pineau, Olivier Mesdjian, Damien Cuvelier, et al.. Phenotyping polarization dynamics of immune cells using a lipid droplet-cell pairing microfluidic platform. Cell Reports Methods, 2022, pp.100335. ⟨10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100335⟩. ⟨hal-03853948v2⟩