ReviewImmunology2011
The immunological synapse: a cause or consequence of T-cell receptor triggering?
Review in Immunology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
75 citing papers in PubMed, 113 citations in OpenAlex.
- Endosome traffic in rheumatic diseases: mechanistic insights and therapeutic opportunities.Nature reviews. Rheumatology · 2026Review
- Mechanisms of T cell activation: Integrating signaling pathways, experimental models, and therapeutic implications.EXCLI journal · 2026Review
- Mimicking the TCR immune synapse for improved CAR-T cell function.Cell research · 2025Article
- Changes in Neuroimmunological Synapses During Cerebral Ischemia.Translational stroke research · 2025Review
- Exploring the mechanism of metabolic cell death-related genes AKR1C2 and MAP1LC3A as biomarkers in Parkinson's disease.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Remote Force Modulation of the T-Cell Receptor Reveals an NFAT-Threshold for CD4European journal of immunology · 2025Article
- Receptor clustering tunes and sharpens the selectivity of multivalent binding.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Reverse-engineering the FLT3-PI3K/AKT axis to enhance TILs function and improve prognosis in ovarian and cervical cancers.Journal of ovarian research · 2025Article
- Development of BCMA-Targeted Bispecific Natural Killer Cell Engagers for Multiple Myeloma Treatment.Antibodies (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- An Imaging-Based Assay to Measure the Location of PD-1 at the Immune Synapse for Testing the Binding Efficacy of Anti-PD-1 and Anti-PD-L1 Antibodies.Bio-protocol · 2024Article
- Rationale for immune checkpoint inhibitors plus targeted therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma.Heliyon · 2024Review
- Nanofibrous MultiDomain Peptide Hydrogels Provide T Cells a 3D, Cytocompatible Environment for Cell Expansion and Antigen-Specific Killing.ACS biomaterials science & engineering · 2024Article
- Leukemic cell-secreted interleukin-9 suppresses cytotoxic T cell-mediated killing in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.Cell death & disease · 2024Article
- Review
- Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer: A Review of Current Evidence.Cells · 2024Review
- Bayesian metamodeling of early T-cell antigen receptor signaling accounts for its nanoscale activation patterns.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Crosstalking with Dendritic Cells: A Path to Engineer Advanced T Cell Immunotherapy.Frontiers in systems biology · 2024Article
- Rewiring the T cell-suppressive cytokine landscape of the tumor microenvironment: a new frontier for precision anti-cancer therapy.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- p66Shc deficiency in CLL cells enhances PD-L1 expression and suppresses immune synapse formation.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Article
- Who wins the combat, CAR or TCR?Leukemia · 2023Review
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The immunological synapse forms as a result of the tight apposition of a T cell with an antigen-presenting cell (APC) and it is the site where the T-cell receptor (TCR) is triggered by its antigen ligand, the peptide-MHC complex present in the APC membrane. The immunological synapse was initially characterized in the T-cell membrane as three concentric rings of membrane receptors and their underlying cytoskeletal and signalling proteins. The inner circle, or central supramolecular activation cluster (cSMAC), concentrates most of the TCR and CD28, and it is surrounded by the peripheral SMAC that is formed by integrins. Finally, the most external ring or distal SMAC (dSMAC) is where proteins with large ectodomains are located, such as CD43 and CD45, far from the cSMAC. This arrangement was initially thought to be responsible for maintaining sustained TCR signalling, however, this typical concentric bull's-eye pattern is not found in the immunological synapses formed with the APCs of dendritic cells. Interestingly, TCR signalling has been detected in microclusters formed in the dSMAC area and it extinguishes as the TCRs reach the cSMAC. Hence, it appears that TCR signalling and full T-cell activation do not require the formation of the cSMAC and that this structure may rather play a role in TCR down-regulation, as well as participating in the polarized secretion of lytic granules. Here, we shall review the historical evolution of the role of the cSMAC in T-cell activation, finally discussing our most recent data indicating that the cSMAC serves to internalize exhausted TCRs by phagocytosis.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.