13301 IUPAC Gold Book - immunological synapse 10.1351/goldbook.13301 13301 current 1 Contact point between the T cell and antigen-presenting cell (APC) that is generated by reorganization and clustering of cell surface molecules in lipid rafts. The synapse facilitates interactions between T-cell receptor (TCR) and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules, and between adhesion molecules, thereby potentiating a TCR-mediated activation signal. T cell https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13724 T-cell receptor (TCR) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13714 adhesion molecules https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12848 antigen-presenting cell (APC) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12888 lipid rafts https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13390 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13434 PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1189 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13301/html https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13301/json https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13301/plain Citation: 'immunological synapse' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.13301 The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. 2026-05-10T04:03:04+00:00