Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Generation of CAR T Cells for Adoptive Therapy in the Context of Glioblastoma Standard of Care
Published on: February 16, 2015
The physical landscape of CAR-T synapse
Yiwei Xiong1, Kendra A Libby2, Xiaolei Su3
1Department of Cell Biology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
None:
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells form dynamic immunological synapses with their cancer cell targets. After a CAR-antigen engagement, the CAR-T synapse forms, matures, and finally disassembles, accompanied by substantial remodeling of cell surface proteins, lipids, and glycans. In this review, we provide perspectives for understanding protein distribution, membrane topology, and force transmission across the CAR-T synapse. We highlight the features of CAR-T synapses that differ from T cell receptor synapses, including the disorganized protein pattern, adjustable synapse width, diverse mechano-responding properties, and resulting signaling consequences. Through a range of examples, we illustrate how revealing the biophysical nature of the CAR-T synapse could guide the design of CAR-Ts with improved anti-tumor function.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Chemical Synapses
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...
The Synapse
Overview of Synapses
Electrical Synapses
Gap junctions allow the current to pass directly from one cell to the next. In contrast, in the chemical synapse, the neurotransmitters carry the information through the synaptic cleft from one neuron to the next. They consist of two...

![Dynamic Imaging of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells with [18F]Tetrafluoroborate Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.jove.com%2FCDNSource%2Fteasers%2F62334.jpg&w=3840&q=50)