Scientists have discovered the immune system’s hidden sense of touch. Researchers at McGill University found that T cells can actually sense how stiff their surrounding tissues are, using those physical signals to help decide whether they develop into long-lasting memory cells that protect against future infections.
Immune cells illustration (Credits: ScienceDaily)
The finding, published in Nature Immunology, challenges a long-held assumption. For years, researchers believed tissue-resident memory T cells — specialised immune cells that remain in tissues after an infection and respond quickly if the same threat returns — were guided mainly by chemical signals.
Immune Cells Sense of Touch: How T Cells Feel Tissue Stiffness
To test whether physical surroundings matter, the researchers studied immune cells from humans and mice, placing them inside specially designed collagen gels that mimicked tissues with different levels of stiffness. A clear pattern emerged: as the gels became stiffer, T cells were increasingly likely to acquire characteristics of tissue-resident memory cells.
Lead author Judith Mandl, a professor in McGill’s Department of Physiology, said the finding suggests T cells can feel their surroundings and adapt to them, making the physical environment an active force in shaping their behaviour.
Why the Immune Touch Discovery Could Matter for Cancer and Autoimmune Research
Understanding how T cells respond to physical conditions could eventually open new possibilities in diseases where the immune system mistakenly targets healthy tissue, including autoimmune disorders, allergies and transplant rejection complications.
It could also matter for cancer research. Tumours are often dense and physically difficult for immune cells to penetrate, and understanding how T cells adapt to those environments could help researchers design immunotherapies better able to reach and attack tumours, Mandl said.
The team now hopes to identify the specific molecular sensor that lets T cells detect their physical environment — the next step toward explaining how the immune system builds lasting protection.
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Source: ScienceDaily Health — read the full story there.
