Mechanical Stiffness Controls Dendritic Cell Metabolism and Function

Impact of static mechanical tension on global gene expressison in dendritic cell culture Overall design: Stiffness in the tissue microenvironment changes in most diseases and immunological conditions, but its direct influence on the immune system is poorly understood. Here, we sought to understand how static mechanical tension impacts global gene transcriptional changes across bulk cell types generated by traditional bone marrow dendritic cell culture methods. We cultured bone marrow derived dendritic cells at both low tension, reminiscent of physiological stiffness (2kPa), as well as at stiffness seen more in fibro-inflammatory disease (50kPa). This work identified numerous genes and transcriptional programs modulated by environmental stiffness across myeloid populations within a dendritic cell bone marrow culture and identifies stiffness as a critical modulator of genetic programs in the innate immune system