Mitochondria (white, bottom) move toward the immune synapse (right) to help prevent calcium from closing calcium channels.

HOTH/NAS

Arendezvous among mitochondria and the juncture between immune cells is needed to jumpstart T cells, according to results from Ariel Quintana, Markus Hoth, and colleagues (Saarland University, Homburg, Germany). The mitochondria soak up calcium to keep nearby calcium channels open.

Calcium flowing into a T cell that has met an antigen-presenting cell turns on transcription factors that activate the T cell. The calcium enters through channels in the plasma membrane that then close when calcium levels rise. For the channels to stay open long enough for an effective signal, mitochondria have to soak up some of this influx. The new results show that, to be successful sponges, mitochondria have to be in the right place.

That place is the meeting point, called the immune synapse, between the...

The Rockefeller University Press
2007
The Rockefeller University Press
2007
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