Tubulin and actin interplay at thet cell and antigen-presenting cell interface

Abstract

T cells reorganize their actin and tubulin-based cytoskeletons to provide a physical basis to the immune synapse. However,growing evidence shows that their roles on Tcell activation are more dynamic than merely serving as tracks or scaffold for different mol-ecules.The crosstalk between both skeletons may be important for the formation and movement of the lamella at the immunological synapse by increasing the adhsion of the T cell to the antigen-presenting cells (APC), thus favoring the transport of components toward the plasma membrane and in turn regulating theT-APC intercellular communication. Microtubules and F-actin appear to be essential for the transport of thed ifferent signaling microclusters along the membrane, therefore facilitating the propagation of the signal. Finally,they can also be important for regulating the endocytosis, recycling, and degrada-tion of the Tcell receptor signaling machinery, thus helping both to sustain the activated state and to switch it off