The immune system performs critical functions to defend against invading pathogens and maintain tissue homeostasis. Immune cells reside within or are recruited to a host of mechanically active tissues throughout the body and, as a result, are exposed to varying types and degrees of mechanical stimuli. Despite their abundance in such tissues, the role of mechanical stimuli in influencing immune cell function and the molecular mechanisms responsible for mechanics-mediated changes are still poorly understood. The recent emergence of mechanically-gated ion channels, particularly Piezo1, has provided an exciting avenue of research within the fields of mechanobiology and immunology. Numerous studies have identified roles for mechanically-gated ion channels in mechanotransduction within various different cell types, with a few recent studies in immune cells. These initial studies provide strong evidence that mechanically-gated ion channels play pivotal roles in regulating the immune system. In this review, we discuss characteristics of ion channel mediated mechanotransduction, review the current techniques used to quantify and visualize ion channel activity in response to mechanical stimuli, and finally we provide an overview of recent studies examining the role of mechanically-gated ion channels in modulating immune cell function.

免疫系统执行关键功能以抵御入侵的病原体和维持组织稳态。免疫细胞存在于或被招募到遍布全身的大量机械活性组织中，因此，它们会受到不同类型和程度的机械刺激。尽管它们在此类组织中含量丰富，但机械刺激在影响免疫细胞功能方面的作用以及导致机械介导变化的分子机制仍知之甚少。最近出现的机械门控离子通道，特别是 Piezo1，为机械生物学和免疫学领域提供了令人兴奋的研究途径。许多研究已经确定了机械门控离子通道在各种不同细胞类型的机械转导中的作用，最近在免疫细胞方面的一些研究。这些初步研究提供了强有力的证据，表明机械门控离子通道在调节免疫系统中起着关键作用。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了离子通道介导的机械转导的特征，回顾了当前用于量化和可视化响应机械刺激的离子通道活性的技术，最后我们概述了最近研究机械门控离子通道在调节免疫细胞功能。