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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

receptor profile, distinct migrating, IgA, antibody secreting cell populations

College

Life Sciences

Department

Microbiology and Molecular Biology

Abstract

Cells of the immune system must be precisely positioned to facilitate appropriate lymphocyte function. Immune system cells use a multi-step process, which allows them to home to specific areas of the body and perform different tasks. Cells traveling through the blood stream will bind to specific vascular adhesion molecules and begin to slow down and roll along the blood vessel. Circulating white blood cells express chemokine receptors that bind chemokines floating in the blood and chemokines expressed on the membrane of other cells. When the proper chemokine is bound it triggers the white blood cell to firmly adhere to the vessel wall and ultimately crawl through the blood vessel and migrate to specific areas of the tissue. Once a chemokine receptor is bound it stimulates a change in the cell causing it to firmly adhere to a blood vessel and migrate into the surrounding tissue. Certain chemokines are differentially expressed in specific areas of the body; it is hypothesized that differential expression of chemokines helps direct migration of cells to specific tissues.

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