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Updated: Feb 8, 2026
Label-Free Imaging of Single Proteins Secreted from Living Cells via iSCAT Microscopy
Published on: November 20, 2018
Challenges in Developing Protein Secretion Assays at a Single-Cell Level
Yoshitaka Shirasaki1,2,3, Osamu Ohara4,5,6
1PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan.
Insights
Cellular communication relies on secreted molecules. Advanced protein secretion assays now allow real-time monitoring, offering new insights into mammalian cell sociology and immune system dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Immunology
- Systems Biology
Background:
- Cell-cell communication is vital for biological systems, involving both direct physical contact and secreted factors.
- Immune cell communication heavily relies on secreted cytokines and chemokines, making protein secretion assays crucial for immunology.
- The field of systems biology necessitates a re-evaluation of cell-cell interactions mediated by secreted molecules to understand societal dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent advancements in protein secretion assays.
- To explore the future directions of these assays.
- To examine protein secretion assays from the perspective of mammalian cell sociology.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent scientific literature on protein secretion assays.
- Discussion of emerging detection and microfluidics technologies.
- Analysis of real-time monitoring capabilities for protein secretion.
Main Results:
- Recent technological advances enable real-time monitoring of protein secretion.
- This real-time data provides deeper insights into mammalian cell sociology.
- Protein secretion assays are evolving beyond snapshots to dynamic observations.
Conclusions:
- Protein secretion assays are critical for understanding cell-cell communication.
- Real-time monitoring offers unprecedented opportunities to study cellular dynamics.
- Future research should leverage these advanced assays to explore mammalian cell sociology and homeostasis.
Abstract:
In addition to direct physical interactions between/among cells, the secretion of humoral factors from living cells is a critical process for cell-cell communications. A well-known extracellular signaling event is mediated by immune cell cytokines/chemokines. Because cell-cell communication is crucial in immune cell sociology, protein secretion assays first attracted a broad range of immunology interests. Now that we have entered an era of systems biology, cell-cell interactions mediated by secreted molecules should be revisited to understand the dynamics and homeostasis of the cell society as a whole. Of more importance, recent advances in detection and microfluidics technologies enable us to monitor protein secretion in real time rather than as a snapshot from the past, which gives us an opportunity to more deeply understand the logic of mammalian cell sociology. This chapter reviews the recent progress in and future direction of protein secretion assays, particularly from a mammalian cell sociology viewpoint.
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