Title: Adhesion Frequency Assay for <em>In Situ</em> Kinetics Analysis of Cross-Junctional Molecular Interactions at the Cell-Cell Interface
Abstract: The micropipette adhesion assay was developed in 1998 to measure two-dimensional (2D) receptor-ligand binding kinetics1. The assay uses a human red blood cell (RBC) as adhesion sensor and presenting cell for one of the interacting molecules. It employs micromanipulation to bring the RBC into contact with another cell that expresses the other interacting molecule with precisely controlled area and time to enable bond formation. The adhesion event is detected as RBC elongation upon pulling the two cells apart. By controlling the density of the ligands immobilized on the RBC surface, the probability of adhesion is kept in mid-range between 0 and 1. The adhesion probability is estimated from the frequency of adhesion events in a sequence of repeated contact cycles between the two cells for a given contact time. Varying the contact time generates a binding curve. Fitting a probabilistic model for receptor-ligand reaction kinetics1 to the binding curve returns the 2D affinity and off-rate. The assay has been validated using interactions of Fcγ receptors with IgG Fc1-6, selectins with glycoconjugate ligands6-9, integrins with ligands10-13, homotypical cadherin binding14, T cell receptor and coreceptor with peptide-major histocompatibility complexes15-19. The method has been used to quantify regulations of 2D kinetics by biophysical factors, such as the membrane microtopology5, membrane anchor2, molecular orientation and length6, carrier stiffness9, curvature20, and impingement force20, as well as biochemical factors, such as modulators of the cytoskeleton and membrane microenvironment where the interacting molecules reside and the surface organization of these molecules15,17,19. The method has also been used to study the concurrent binding of dual receptor-ligand species3,4, and trimolecular interactions19 using a modified model21. The major advantage of the method is that it allows study of receptors in their native membrane environment. The results could be very different from those obtained using purified receptors17. It also allows study of the receptor-ligand interactions in a sub-second timescale with temporal resolution well beyond the typical biochemical methods. To illustrate the micropipette adhesion frequency method, we show kinetics measurement of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) functionalized on RBCs binding to integrin αLβ2 on neutrophils with dimeric E-selectin in the solution to activate αLβ2.