Simulation of receptor triggering by kinetic segregation shows role of oligomers and close-contacts
Authors: Taylor Rob , Allard Jun , Read Elizabeth L 
Published: October 2021

The activation of T cells, key players of the immune system, involves local evacuation of phosphatase CD45 from a region of the T cell’s surface, segregating it from the T cell receptor. What drives this evacuation? In the presence of antigen, what ensures evacuation happens in the sub-second timescales necessary to initiate signaling? In the absence of antigen, what mechanisms ensure evacuation does not happen spontaneously, which could cause signaling errors? Phenomena known to influence spatial organization of CD45 or similar surface molecules include diffusive motion in the lipid bilayer, oligomerization reactions, and mechanical compression against a nearby surface, such as that of the cell presenting antigen. Computer simulations can investigate hypothesized spatiotemporal mechanisms of T cell signaling. The challenge to computational studies of evacuation is that the base process, spontaneous evacuation by simple diffusion, is in the extreme rare event limit, meaning direct stochastic simulation is unfeasible. Here we combine particle-based spatial stochastic simulation with the Weighted Ensemble method for rare events to compute the mean first-passage time for cell surface availability by surface reorganization of CD45. We confirm mathematical estimates that, at physiological concentrations, spontaneous evacuation is extremely rare, roughly 300 years. We find that dimerization decreases the time required for evacuation. A weak bi-molecular interaction (dissociation constant estimate 460 microMolar) is sufficient for an order of magnitude reduction of spontaneous evacuation times, and oligomerization to hexamers reduces times to below 1 second. This introduces a mechanism whereby CD45 oligomerization could be accessible to an engineered therapeutic. For large regions of close-contact, such as those induced by large microvilli, molecular size and compressibility imply a nonzero re-entry probability 60%, decreasing evacuation times. Simulations show that these reduced evacuation times are still unrealistically long, suggesting that a yet-to-be-described mechanism, besides compressional exclusion at a close contact, drives evacuation.

Statement of Significance

In the immune system, T cells sensing pathogens depends on a process called T cell receptor triggering. In this process, proteins on the cell surface undergo reorganization, including local depletion of large membrane proteins from the area surrounding the T cell receptor. Computer simulations of protein dynamics provide a means to investigate phenomena in greater detail than that afforded by experiments. However, even simulations present challenges, because tracking the motion and interactions of individual molecules is computationally expensive. Combining a rare event algorithm with spatial simulations, we show that biochemical and mechanical properties drastically affect depletion timescales, and thus receptor triggering. Quantitative understanding of these timescales will constrain hypothesized mechanistic models and could suggest new strategies for T cell engineering.