Force contribution of the LFA-1/ICAM-1 complex to T cell adhesion

Little is known in quantitative terms about forces between cells generated during adhesion and recognition, or about the contribution of any one set of molecular associations to the development of these forces. To determine the forces involved in adhesion dependent on lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), we have measured the junctional avidity between single cell pairs consisting of a cloned T cell that expresses LFA-1 and a fibroblast cell that expresses MHC class II molecules and ICAM-1 after transfection. Micromanipulation was used to induce conjugation of cell pairs and to determine the force required to separate the conjugate. T cell adhesion to three related fibroblast cell lines was compared: the parent line that does not express ICAM-1 or other LFA-1 counter-receptors, and two transfectants that have high and moderate levels of surface ICAM-1 expression. The force needed to separate the conjugates varied with the fibroblast ICAM-1 expression levels. The T cell adhesion to ICAM-1-expressing fibroblasts was strong, and the critical separation stresses measured for the three cell lines were 1.4 x 10(3) dyn/cm2 (1 dyn=10(-5) N) for the ICAM-1-negative fibroblast, 4.98 x 10(3) dyn/cm2 for the fibroblast with a moderate level of ICAM-1 expression, and 6.25 x 10(3) dyn/cm2 for the fibroblast line with the highest ICAM-1 expression. The dependence of adhesion strength on the LFA-1/ICAM-1 complex was confirmed by the use of blocking antibodies, which showed the contribution from the interaction of CD4/MHC class II to be negligible.