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Cellular imaging in rheumatic diseases

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 11, pages 357–367 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Key Points

  • Cellular imaging of immune cells such as T cells, B cells and antigen-presenting cells has improved our understanding of immune homeostasis, immune responses and autoimmune diseases

  • Cellular interactions underlie multiple stages of an immune response, including its initiation, maintenance, regulation and termination

  • The details of how, where and when cells migrate and interact during the multiple phases of immune responses remain unclear; cellular imaging techniques can elucidate some of these aspects

  • The real-time visualization and assessment of cellular interactions and functions in vivo has been made possible by new developments in cellular imaging techniques

  • A better understanding of the cell–cell interactions underlying immune responses will contribute to improvements in rheumatoid arthritis therapy

Abstract

Developments in cellular imaging now enable the real-time visualization of the choreographed sequence of events that underlie the development of immune responses in vivo. The previously unappreciated dynamics and anatomical context of cellular interactions, revealed in these studies, can have profound consequences for the 'decision' by the immune system to induce immunological priming versus immunological tolerance. Importantly, dysregulation of this balance can result in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). By further developing our understanding of how, where and when cells interact during immune responses, we can further dissect these events to assess how cell interactions might be aberrant in autoimmunity. A better knowledge of the mechanisms involved in cellular interactions by means of cellular imaging can help the development and targeting of therapies to particular disease stages and tissues in patients with RA in efforts to restore immune homeostasis.

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Figure 1: Pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis.
Figure 2: Challenges in tissue imaging.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Arthritis Research UK for funding their research, and the Rheumatoid Arthritis pathogenesis Centre of Excellence (RACE) for support.

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  1. Centre for Immunobiology, Institute of Immunology, Infection and Inflammation, Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK

    Robert A. Benson, Iain B. McInnes, James M. Brewer & Paul Garside

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All authors contributed equally to researching data for the article and made substantial contributions to discussion of content, writing and reviewing/editing of the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Paul Garside.

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Benson, R., McInnes, I., Brewer, J. et al. Cellular imaging in rheumatic diseases. Nat Rev Rheumatol 11, 357–367 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2015.34

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