Podosomes, But Not the Maturation Status, Determine the Protease-Dependent 3D Migration in Human Dendritic Cells

Dendritic cells (DC) are professional Antigen-Presenting Cells scattered throughout antigen-exposed tissues and draining lymph nodes, and survey the body for pathogens. Their ability to migrate through tissues, a 3D environment, is essential for an effective immune response. Upon infection, recognition of Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMP) by Toll-like receptors (TLR) triggers DC maturation. Mature DC (mDC) essentially use the protease-independent, ROCK-dependent amoeboid mode in vivo, or in collagen matrices in vitro. However, the mechanisms of 3D migration used by human immature DC (iDC) are still poorly characterized. Here, we reveal that human monocyte-derived DC are able to use two migration modes in 3D. In porous matrices of fibrillar collagen I, iDC adopted the amoeboid migration mode. In dense matrices of gelled collagen I or Matrigel, iDC used the protease-dependent, ROCK-independent mesenchymal migration mode. Upon TLR4 activation by LPS, mDC-LPS lose the capacity to form podosomes and degrade the matrix along with impaired mesenchymal migration. TLR2 activation by Pam₃CSK₄ resulted in DC maturation, podosome maintenance, and efficient mesenchymal migration. Under all these conditions, when DC used the mesenchymal mode in dense matrices, they formed 3D podosomes at the tip of cell protrusions. Using PGE₂, known to disrupt podosomes in DC, we observed that the cells remained in an immature status and the mesenchymal migration mode was abolished. We also observed that, while CCL5 (attractant of iDC) enhanced both amoeboid and mesenchymal migration of iDC, CCL19 and CCL21 (attractants of mDC) only enhanced mDC-LPS amoeboid migration without triggering mesenchymal migration. Finally, we examined the migration of iDC in tumor cell spheroids, a tissue-like 3D environment. We observed that iDC infiltrated spheroids of tumor cells using both migration modes. Altogether, these results demonstrate that human DC adopt the mesenchymal mode to migrate in 3D dense environments, which relies on their capacity to form podosomes independent of their maturation status, paving the way of further investigations on in vivo DC migration in dense tissues and its regulation during infections.