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Kv1.3 potassium channels are localized in the immunological synapse formed between cytotoxic and target cells

2004; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 101; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.0307421100

1091-6490

György Panyi, György Vámosi, Zsolt Bacsó, Miklós Bagdány, Andrea Bodnár, Zoltán Varga, R. Gáspár, László Mátyus, Sándor Damjanovich,

Immune Cell Function and Interaction

Membrane proteins of cytotoxic T cells specifically reorganize to form an immunological synapse (IS) on interaction with their specific target. In this paper, we investigated the redistribution of Kv1.3 channels, which are the dominant voltage-gated potassium channels, in the plasma membrane of allogen-activated human cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) on interacting with their specific target cells. Kv1.3 channels bearing a FLAG epitope were expressed in the CTLs and the cell-surface distribution of fluorescently labeled ion channels was determined from confocal laser-scanning microscopy images. FLAG epitope-tagged Kv1.3 channels showed a patchy distribution in CTLs not engaged with target cells, whereas the channels were accumulated in the IS formed between CTLs and specific target lymphocytes. Localization of Kv1.3 channels in the IS might open an unrevealed possibility in the regulation of ion channel activity by signaling molecules accumulated in the IS.