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Peer-reviewedCC BYNature Chemical Biology

Plasma membrane order maps functional diversity in immune cells

  • Luca Andronico1,2,3
  • Cenk Onur Gürdap4,5
  • Abishek Arora6,4,5
  • Franziska Ragaller4,5
  • Patrick A. Sandoz7,8,5
  • Yidan Jiang4,9,5
  • Sarantis Giatrellis10
  • Leonard L. de Boer4,5
  • Valentina Carannante7,5
  • Sofiia Iskrak4,5
  • Jaromír Mikeš4
  • Marcus Buggert11
5 more authors
  • Anders Österborg12,13
  • Björn Önfelt7,11,5
  • Andrey S. Klymchenko14
  • Petter Brodin15,4,16
  • Erdinç Sezgin17,18
18 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected]
  2. 2Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden. [email protected]
  3. 3Science for Life Laboratory, Solna, Sweden. [email protected]
  4. 4Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
  5. 5Science for Life Laboratory, Solna, Sweden
  6. 6Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
  7. 7Department of Applied Physics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
  8. 8Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  9. 9European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany
  10. 10Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
  11. 11Department of Medicine Huddinge, Centre for Infectious Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  12. 12Department of Hematology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
  13. 13Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  14. 14Laboratoire de Bioimagerie et Pathologies, UMR 7021 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France
  15. 15Department of Immunology and Inflammation, Imperial College London, London, UK
  16. 16Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Sciences (MRC LMS), Imperial College Hammersmith Campus, London, UK
  17. 17Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden. [email protected]
  18. 18Science for Life Laboratory, Solna, Sweden. [email protected]
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Abstract

Cell membranes undergo biophysical remodeling as an adaptation to the surroundings and to perform specific biological functions. However, the extent and relevance of such changes in human immune cells remain unknown, largely because of the lack of single-cell and multidimensional methodologies. Here we apply a cytometry-based method to fill this gap by combining biophysical profiling with simultaneous analysis of immune cell markers. This platform reveals notable cell-type-dependent plasma membrane order heterogeneity in immune cells. By sorting immune cells according to their membrane order and performing transcriptome and spatial surface proteome analyses together with functional tests, we show that plasma membrane order can be used to identify subsets of immune cells with distinct phenotypes and functional behaviors. Our findings demonstrate a broad heterogeneity of plasma membrane order in immune cells that will provide a more precise definition of immune cell states on the basis of their biophysical properties in health and disease.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{andronico2026plasma,
  title = {{Plasma membrane order maps functional diversity in immune cells}},
  author = {Luca Andronico and Cenk Onur Gürdap and Abishek Arora and Franziska Ragaller and Patrick A. Sandoz and Yidan Jiang and Sarantis Giatrellis and Leonard L. de Boer and Valentina Carannante and Sofiia Iskrak and Jaromír Mikeš and Marcus Buggert and Anders Österborg and Björn Önfelt and Andrey S. Klymchenko and Petter Brodin and Erdinç Sezgin},
  journal = {Nature Chemical Biology},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1038/s41589-026-02322-x},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-026-02322-x},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Plasma membrane order maps functional diversity in immune cells
AU  - Luca Andronico
AU  - Cenk Onur Gürdap
AU  - Abishek Arora
AU  - Franziska Ragaller
AU  - Patrick A. Sandoz
AU  - Yidan Jiang
AU  - Sarantis Giatrellis
AU  - Leonard L. de Boer
AU  - Valentina Carannante
AU  - Sofiia Iskrak
AU  - Jaromír Mikeš
AU  - Marcus Buggert
AU  - Anders Österborg
AU  - Björn Önfelt
AU  - Andrey S. Klymchenko
AU  - Petter Brodin
AU  - Erdinç Sezgin
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/09
JO  - Nature Chemical Biology
DO  - 10.1038/s41589-026-02322-x
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-026-02322-x
AB  - Cell membranes undergo biophysical remodeling as an adaptation to the surroundings and to perform specific biological functions. However, the extent and relevance of such changes in human immune cells remain unknown, largely because of the lack of single-cell and multidimensional methodologies. Here we apply a cytometry-based method to fill this gap by combining biophysical profiling with simultaneous analysis of immune cell markers. This platform reveals notable cell-type-dependent plasma membrane order heterogeneity in immune cells. By sorting immune cells according to their membrane order and performing transcriptome and spatial surface proteome analyses together with functional tests, we show that plasma membrane order can be used to identify subsets of immune cells with distinct phenotypes and functional behaviors. Our findings demonstrate a broad heterogeneity of plasma membrane order in immune cells that will provide a more precise definition of immune cell states on the basis of their biophysical properties in health and disease.
SN  - 1552-4450
SN  - 1552-4469
ER  -