B cell antigen presentation in the initiation of follicular helper T cell and germinal center differentiation

LG Barnett, H Simkins, BE Barnett, LL Korn… - The Journal of …, 2014 - journals.aai.org
LG Barnett, H Simkins, BE Barnett, LL Korn, AL Johnson, EJ Wherry, GF Wu, TM Laufer
The Journal of Immunology, 2014journals.aai.org
High-affinity class-switched Abs and memory B cells are products of the germinal center
(GC). The CD4+ T cell help required for the development and maintenance of the GC is
delivered by follicular Th cells (T FH), a CD4+ Th cell subset characterized by expression of
Bcl-6 and secretion of IL-21. The cellular interactions that mediate differentiation of T FH and
GC B cells remain an important area of investigation. We previously showed that MHC class
II (MHCII)–dependent dendritic cell Ag presentation is sufficient for the differentiation of a T …
Abstract
High-affinity class-switched Abs and memory B cells are products of the germinal center (GC). The CD4+ T cell help required for the development and maintenance of the GC is delivered by follicular Th cells (T FH), a CD4+ Th cell subset characterized by expression of Bcl-6 and secretion of IL-21. The cellular interactions that mediate differentiation of T FH and GC B cells remain an important area of investigation. We previously showed that MHC class II (MHCII)–dependent dendritic cell Ag presentation is sufficient for the differentiation of a T FH intermediate (termed pre-T FH), characterized by Bcl-6 expression but lacking IL-21 secretion. In this article, we examine the contributions of MHCII Ag presentation by B cells to T FH differentiation and GC responses in several contexts. B cells alone do not efficiently prime naive CD4+ T cells or induce T FH after protein immunization; however, during lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection, B cells induce T FH differentiation despite the lack of effector CD4+ T cell generation. Still, MHCII+ dendritic cells and B cells cooperate for optimal T FH and GC B cell differentiation in response to both model Ags and viral infection. This study highlights the roles for B cells in both CD4+ T cell priming and T FH differentiation, and demonstrates that different APC subsets work in tandem to mediate the GC response.
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