T-Cell Receptor Clustering Methods Used for Single Cell Analysis: Potential Application in Oncology

Abstract

We know that T-cell activation and effector function is integral for cancer cell destruction in immunotherapeutic treatment in oncology. The fundamental behaviour of T-cells at the time of activation is poorly understood but is likely to be central to this action. Cellular clustering occurs on at least two levels: gathering of multiple mobile cells of similar type, and aggregation between different cell types. Receptors are implicated in both of these processes. Analysis of receptor clustering is a different process whereby receptors form clusters on the cell membrane surface and can be studied to determine their relationship to immune activation. Receptor clustering has been shown to occur in some (perhaps all) cell types, but little is known about this phenomenon, particularly in T-lymphocytes. T-Cell Receptors (TCRs) which are important for the activation of T-lymphocytes. T-cell receptors, also known as cluster of differentiation 3 (CD3) molecules, bind specific antigen to create intracellular signaling in the process of T-cell activation as part of the immune response. The detail of how TCRs physically behave on the T-lymphocyte surface and specifically how they cluster remains unclear, including during the early phases of initiation of immune activation in the T-cell response. The aim of this review is to investigate how receptor clustering that has been studied, can be more effectively studied in the future and what the current evidence suggests about TCR clustering/T-cell activity relationships.