Trogocytosis in Disease and Therapy

Dear Colleagues,

Trogocytosis, derived from the Greek word ‘trogo’ meaning to gnaw or nibble, is a form of cell–cell signaling that is rapid, requires cell–cell contact, and in which the proteins are transferred as a whole and in large quantities. It has been well studied in the immune system, especially in the role of T-cell receptor synapse formation and NK cell–target cell interaction, but it also has a role in the development of drug resistance in cancer cells and is responsible for relapse in patients of CAR T-cell therapy due to a trogocytosis-mediated decrease in antigen density. There is evidence that trogocytosis is mediated through lipid rafts that anchor proteins involved in cell signaling. It is hypothesized that the uncoupling of cells after receptor–ligand interaction results in the transfer of the protein pair, along with some membrane, to both the signaling cell and the effector cell, implying that trogocytosis is bidirectional. Although lipid rafts and trogocytosis are intimately linked, they arose as two independent areas of study. The two fields merged when lipid rafts were identified as a mechanism to explain trogocytosis and when cell signaling through lipid rafts, such as T-cell signaling, was discovered to cause trogocytosis.

In this Special Issue entitled “Trogocytosis in Disease and Therapy”, we invite the submission of original scientific reports, review articles, and commentary and perspective pieces on the broad topic of trogocytosis. We seek to cover the many and varied trogocytosis-mediated signaling pathways that have been characterized to date, including basic pathway dissection in model organisms and more translational studies involving human disease mechanisms. 

We trust this Special Issue will be a comprehensive collection of articles and an incredible resource for scientists both within the field of transplant biology, immune therapy, and for life science researchers in general.

Dr. Ian Rogers
Dr. Theresa Chow
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• trogocytosis
• lipid rafts
• cell signaling
• cross-dressing
• TCR
• CAR T
• HLA