Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Quorum sensing in the immune system

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 18, pages 537–538 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

Quorum sensing is the regulation of gene expression programmes in response to changes in population density. It is probably best recognized as a mechanism through which bacterial communities can synchronize behaviours, such as biofilm formation and bioluminescence. This Comment article highlights the emerging evidence suggesting that quorum sensing also contributes to the regulation of immune cell responses.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Ng, W. L. & Bassler, B. L. Bacterial quorum-sensing network architectures. Annu. Rev. Genet. 43, 197–222 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Feinerman, O. et al. Variability and robustness in T cell activation from regulated heterogeneity in protein levels. Science 321, 1081–1084 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Polonsky, M. et al. Induction of CD4 T cell memory by local cellular collectivity. Science 360, eaaj1853 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Thaventhiran, J. E. et al. Activation of the Hippo pathway by CTLA-4 regulates the expression of Blimp-1 in the CD8+ T cell. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, E2223–E2229 (2012).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Montaudouin, C. et al. Quorum sensing contributes to activated IgM-secreting B cell homeostasis. J. Immunol. 190, 106–114 (2013).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Boechat, N. et al. Culture at high density improves the ability of human macrophages to control mycobacterial growth. J. Immunol. 166, 6203–6211 (2001).

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Uhlin-Hansen, L. & Kolset, S. O. Cell density-dependent expression of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan in cultured human monocytes. J. Biol. Chem. 263, 2526–2531 (1988).

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Chen, C. C. et al. Organ-level quorum sensing directs regeneration in hair stem cell populations. Cell 161, 277–290 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Ruffell, B. & Coussens, L. M. Macrophages and therapeutic resistance in cancer. Cancer Cell 27, 462–472 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Shalek, A. K. et al. Single-cell RNA-seq reveals dynamic paracrine control of cellular variation. Nature 510, 363–369 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants R01GM066189 (G.H.) and R01DK113790 (G.H.); the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (P.P.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Luca Antonioli & Corrado Blandizzi

  2. Laboratory of Cardiovascular Physiology and Tissue Injury, National Institutes of Health/NIAAA, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Pál Pacher

  3. Laboratory of Myeloid Cell Ontogeny and Functional Specialization, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Technologiepark, Ghent, Belgium

    Martin Guilliams

  4. Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Martin Guilliams

  5. Department of Anesthesiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    György Haskó

Authors
  1. Luca Antonioli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Corrado Blandizzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pál Pacher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Martin Guilliams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. György Haskó
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to György Haskó.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Antonioli, L., Blandizzi, C., Pacher, P. et al. Quorum sensing in the immune system. Nat Rev Immunol 18, 537–538 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-018-0040-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-018-0040-4

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing