Dendritic cell microvilli: a novel membrane structure associated with the multifocal synapse and T-cell clustering

Polarizing effects of productive dendritic cell (DC)-T-cell interactions on DC cytoskeleton have been known in some detail, but the effects on DC membrane have been studied to a lesser extent. We found that T-cell incubation led to DC elongation and segregation of characteristic DC veils to the broader pole of the cell. On the opposite DC pole, we observed a novel membrane feature in the form of bundled microvilli. Each villus was approximately 100 nm in diameter and 600 to 1200 nm long. Microvilli exhibited high density of antigen-presenting molecules and costimulatory molecules and provided the physical basis for the multifocal immune synapse we observed during human DC and T-cell interactions. T cells preferentially bound to this site in clusters often contained both CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells.