Directed Migration of Natural Killer Cells by Microcontact Printing

Abstract: NK cells are large granular lymphocytes that patrol the body for defect or virally infected cells. The migration of natural killer (NK) cells is critical for the detection and elimination of aberrant cells such as tumor- and virally infected cells. If a NK cell stumbles upon a target, i.e. an aberrant or stressed cell, the NK cell has the ability to kill the target cell. Limitations in the efficiency of NK cells, such as limited migration speed, and the finite number of target cells that can be killed by one NK cell, leaves the immune system vulnerable to diseases. However it has been shown that NK cell populations are heterogeneous, and from one host to another the overall efficiency of NK cells may vary. If the most efficient NK cells could be isolated from a cell population and cultivated, great numbers of high performing NK cells could then possibly be reintroduced to a body and be used to fight maladies such as cancer and HIV. In an attempt to bring us closer to these possibilities, and further examine the characteristics of NK cells, a high quality master was manufactured and used for microcontact printing. This project has focused on how NK cell migration is affected by cell structure and whether NK cells can be directed along a pattern to provide a situation where NK cell migration speed can be measured rigorously. This was done by using microcontact printing to create micro patterns of proteins that mimics the geometry of the NK cells migrating phenotype. This report will give a description of the master fabrication process and it will be shown that NK cells can be influenced to move straighter by interacting with a microcontact printed pattern of proteins. Furthermore our results will conclude that NK cell migration speed is not affected significantly by the microcontact printed proteins.