Liquid crystal immune sensing

Abstract

Immunology Systemic scleroderma (SSc) is an autoimmune disease of the connective tissue thought to be the result of aberrant innate immune signaling. CXCL4, a platelet-derived chemoattractant for neutrophils, monocytes, and fibroblasts, can serve as a biomarker for this disease. Lande et al. report that high CXCL4 levels found in SSc patients correlates with plasmacytoid dendritic cell (pDC) activation and interferon-α production. They show that CXCL4 organizes both “self” and foreign DNA into liquid-crystalline supramolecular complexes in a DNA size–dependent manner. These complexes chaperone nucleic acids into pDCs and allow for optimal clustering and activation of the innate immune sensor Toll-like receptor 9. Beyond SSc pathogenesis, these findings may illuminate the role of platelets in wound healing and tissue repair. Nat. Commun. 10 , 1731 (2019).