Publikation

Graph Theory-Based Analysis of the Lymph Node Fibroblastic Reticular Cell Network

Wissenschaftlicher Artikel/Review - 01.01.2017

Bereiche
PubMed
DOI

Zitation
Novkovic M, Onder L, Bocharov G, Ludewig B. Graph Theory-Based Analysis of the Lymph Node Fibroblastic Reticular Cell Network. Methods Mol Biol 2017; 1591:43-57.
Art
Wissenschaftlicher Artikel/Review (Englisch)
Zeitschrift
Methods Mol Biol 2017; 1591
Veröffentlichungsdatum
01.01.2017
eISSN (Online)
1940-6029
Seiten
43-57
Kurzbeschreibung/Zielsetzung

Secondary lymphoid organs have developed segregated niches that are able to initiate and maintain effective immune responses. Such global organization requires tight control of diverse cellular components, specifically those that regulate lymphocyte trafficking. Fibroblastic reticular cells (FRCs) form a densely interconnected network in lymph nodes and provide key factors necessary for T cell migration and retention, and foster subsequent interactions between T cells and dendritic cells. Development of integrative systems biology approaches has made it possible to elucidate this multilevel complexity of the immune system. Here, we present a graph theory-based analysis of the FRC network in murine lymph nodes, where generation of the network topology is performed using high-resolution confocal microscopy and 3D reconstruction. This approach facilitates the analysis of physical cell-to-cell connectivity, and estimation of topological robustness and global behavior of the network when it is subjected to perturbation in silico.