Bruno Vanherberghen

Ultrasound-controlled cell aggregation in a multi-well chip

We demonstrate a microplate platform for parallelized manipulation of particles or cells by frequency-modulated ultrasound. The device, consisting of a silicon-glass microchip and a single ultrasonic transducer, enables aggregation, positioning and high-resolution microscopy of cells distributed in an array of 100 microwells centered on the microchip. We characterize the system in terms of temperature control, aggregation and positioning efficiency, and cell viability. We use time-lapse imaging to show that cells continuously exposed to ultrasound are able to divide and remain viable for at least 12 hours inside the device. Thus, the device can be used to induce and maintain aggregation in a parallelized fashion, facilitating long-term microscopy studies of, e.g., cell-cell interactions.

A three-dimensional ultrasonic cage for characterization of individual cells

We demonstrate enrichment, controlled aggregation, and manipulation of microparticles and cells by an ultrasonic cage integrated in a microfluidic chip compatible with high-resolution optical microscopy. The cage is designed as a dual-frequency resonant filleted square box integrated in the fluid channel. Individual particles may be trapped three dimensionally, and the dimensionality of one-dimensional to three-dimensional aggregates can be controlled. We investigate the dependence of the shape and position of a microparticle aggregate on the actuation voltages and aggregate size, and demonstrate optical monitoring of individually trapped live cells with submicrometer resolution.

Imaging Immune Surveillance of Individual Natural Killer Cells Confined in Microwell Arrays

New markers are constantly emerging that identify smaller and smaller subpopulations of immune cells. However, there is a growing awareness that even within very small populations, there is a marked functional heterogeneity and that measurements at the population level only gives an average estimate of the behaviour of that pool of cells. New techniques to analyze single immune cells over time are needed to overcome this limitation. For that purpose, we have designed and evaluated microwell array systems made from two materials, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and silicon, for high-resolution imaging of individual natural killer (NK) cell responses. Both materials were suitable for short-term studies (<4 hours) but only silicon wells allowed long-term studies (several days). Time-lapse imaging of NK cell cytotoxicity in these microwell arrays revealed that roughly 30% of the target cells died much more rapidly than the rest upon NK cell encounter. This unexpected heterogeneity may reflect either separate mechanisms of killing or different killing efficiency by individual NK cells. Furthermore, we show that high-resolution imaging of inhibitory synapse formation, defined by clustering of MHC class I at the interface between NK and target cells, is possible in these microwells. We conclude that live cell imaging of NK-target cell interactions in multi-well microstructures are possible. The technique enables novel types of assays and allow data collection at a level of resolution not previously obtained. Furthermore, due to the large number of wells that can be simultaneously imaged, new statistical information is obtained that will lead to a better understanding of the function and regulation of the immune system at the single cell level.

Analysis of transient migration behavior of natural killer cells imaged in situ and in vitro.

We present a simple method for rapid and automatic characterization of lymphocyte migration from time-lapse fluorescence microscopy data. Time-lapse imaging of natural killer (NK) cells in vitro and in situ, both showed that individual cells transiently alter their migration behavior. Typically, NK cells showed periods of high motility, interrupted by transient periods of slow migration or almost complete arrests. Analysis of in vitro data showed that these periods frequently coincided with contacts with target cells, sometimes leading to target cell lysis. However, NK cells were also commonly observed to stop independently of contact with other cells. In order to objectively characterize the migration of NK cells, we implemented a simple method to discriminate when NK cells stop or have low motilities, have periods of directed migration or undergo random movement. This was achieved using a sliding window approach and evaluating the mean squared displacement (MSD) to assess the migration coefficient and MSD curvature along trajectories from individual NK cells over time. The method presented here can be used to quickly and quantitatively assess the dynamics of individual cells as well as heterogeneity within ensembles. Furthermore, it may also be used as a tool to automatically detect transient stops due to the formation of immune synapses, cell division or cell death. We show that this could be particularly useful for analysis of in situ time-lapse fluorescence imaging data where most cells, as well as the extracellular matrix, are usually unlabelled and thus invisible.

Live cell linear dichroism imaging reveals extensive membrane ruffling within the docking structure of natural killer cell immune synapses

We have applied fluorescence imaging of two-photon linear dichroism to measure the subresolution organization of the cell membrane during formation of the activating (cytolytic) natural killer (NK) cell immune synapse (IS). This approach revealed that the NK cell plasma membrane is convoluted into ruffles at the periphery, but not in the center of a mature cytolytic NK cell IS. Time-lapse imaging showed that the membrane ruffles formed at the initial point of contact between NK cells and target cells and then spread radialy across the intercellular contact as the size of the IS increased, becoming absent from the center of the mature synapse. Understanding the role of such extensive membrane ruffling in the assembly of cytolytic synapses is an intriguing new goal.

Distinct Migration and Contact Dynamics of Resting and IL-2-Activated Human Natural Killer Cells.

Natural killer (NK) cells serve as one of the first lines of defense against viral infections and transformed cells. NK cell cytotoxicity is not dependent on antigen presentation by target cells, but is dependent on integration of activating and inhibitory signals triggered by receptor–ligand interactions formed at a tight intercellular contact between the NK and target cell, i.e., the immune synapse. We have studied the single-cell migration behavior and target-cell contact dynamics of resting and interleukin (IL)-2-activated human peripheral blood NK cells. Small populations of NK cells and target cells were confined in microwells and imaged by fluorescence microscopy for >8 h. Only the IL-2-activated population of NK cells showed efficient cytotoxicity against the human embryonic kidney 293T target cells. We found that although the average migration speeds were comparable, activated NK cells showed significantly more dynamic migration behavior, with more frequent transitions between periods of low and high motility. Resting NK cells formed fewer and weaker contacts with target cells, which manifested as shorter conjugation times and in many cases a complete lack of post-conjugation attachment to target cells. Activated NK cells were approximately twice as big as the resting cells, displayed a more migratory phenotype, and were more likely to employ “motile scanning” of the target-cell surface during conjugation. Taken together, our experiments quantify, at the single-cell level, how activation by IL-2 leads to altered NK cell cytotoxicity, migration behavior, and contact dynamics.

Microchip Screening Platform for Single Cell Assessment of NK Cell Cytotoxicity

Here, we report a screening platform for assessment of the cytotoxic potential of individual natural killer (NK) cells within larger populations. Human primary NK cells were distributed across a silicon–glass microchip containing 32,400 individual microwells loaded with target cells. Through fluorescence screening and automated image analysis, the numbers of NK and live or dead target cells in each well could be assessed at different time points after initial mixing. Cytotoxicity was also studied by time-lapse live-cell imaging in microwells quantifying the killing potential of individual NK cells. Although most resting NK cells (≈75%) were non-cytotoxic against the leukemia cell line K562, some NK cells were able to kill several (≥3) target cells within the 12-h long experiment. In addition, the screening approach was adapted to increase the chance to find and evaluate serial killing NK cells. Even if the cytotoxic potential varied between donors, it was evident that a small fraction of highly cytotoxic NK cells were responsible for a substantial portion of the killing. We demonstrate multiple assays where our platform can be used to enumerate and characterize cytotoxic cells, such as NK or T cells. This approach could find use in clinical applications, e.g., in the selection of donors for stem cell transplantation or generation of highly specific and cytotoxic cells for adoptive immunotherapy.

Ultrasound-Induced Cell–Cell Interaction Studies in a Multi-Well Microplate

This review describes the use of ultrasound for inducing and retaining cell-cell contact in multi-well microplates combined with live-cell fluorescence microscopy. This platform has been used for s ...

Advances in umbilical cord blood cell therapy: the present and the future

ABSTRACT Introduction: Umbilical cord blood (UCB), previously seen as medical waste, is increasingly recognized as a valuable source of cells for therapeutic use. The best-known application is in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), where UCB has become an increasingly important graft source in the 28 years since the first umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) was performed. Recently, UCB has been increasingly investigated as a putative source for adoptive cell therapy. Areas covered: This review covers the advances in umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) to overcome the limitation regarding cellular dose, immunological naivety and additional cell doses such as DLI. It also provides an overview regarding the progress in adoptive cellular therapy using UCB. Expert opinion: UCB has been established as an important source of stem cells for HSCT. Successful strategies to overcome the limitations of UCBT, such as the limited cell numbers and naivety of the cells, are being developed, including novel methods to perform in vitro expansion of progenitor cells, and to improve their homing to the bone marrow. Promising early clinical trials of adoptive therapies with UCB cells, including non-immunological cells, are currently performed for viral infections, malignant diseases and in regenerative medicine.

Microwell-Based Live Cell Imaging of NK Cell Dynamics to Assess Heterogeneity in Motility and Cytotoxic Response

NK cell heterogeneity has primarily been studied either on the population level, measuring average responses, or on the single cell level by flow cytometry, providing static snapshots. These approaches have certain drawbacks, not enabling dynamic observations of single cells over extended periods of time. One of the primary limitations of single cell imaging has been throughput; it has been challenging to collect data for many cells due to their dynamic nature and migrating out of the field of view. Spatially confining cells combined with automated fluorescence microscopy enables the simultaneous monitoring of many NK cells in parallel for extended periods of time (>12 h). Such an approach allows us to dissect how the sum of individual NK cell responses translates to the global average response typically observed.