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Protection against deadly pathogens requires the production of high-affinity antibodies by B cells, which are generated in germinal centers (GCs). Alteration of the GC developmental program is common in many [...]

B cells play a central role in immune system function. Deregulation of normal B cell maturation can lead to the development of autoimmune syndromes as well as B cell malignancies. [...]

Original citation: J Clin Invest. 2013;123(12):5009-5022. doi: 10.1172/JCI70626. Citation for this corrigendum: J Clin Invest. 2014;124(4):1869. doi: 10.1172/JCI75675. During the preparation of the manuscript, the histogram plots for Figure 4F [...]

Analysis of mononuclear cells in the adult mouse liver revealed that B cells represent as much as half of the intrahepatic lymphocyte population. Intrahepatic B cells (IHB cells) are phenotypically similar to splenic B2 cells but express lower levels of CD23 and CD21 and higher levels of CD5. IHB cells proliferate as well as splenic B cells in response to anti-IgM and LPS stimulation in vitro. VDJ gene rearrangements in IHB cells contain insertions of N,P region nucleotides characteristic of B cells maturing in the adult bone marrow rather than in the fetal liver. To evaluate whether B cells can have an impact on liver pathology, we compared CCl4-induced fibrosis development in B cell-deficient and wild-type mice. CCl4 caused similar acute liver injury in mutant and wild-type mice. However, following 6 weeks of CCl4 treatment, histochemical analyses showed markedly reduced collagen deposition in B cell-deficient as compared with wild-type mice. By analyzing mice that have normal numbers of B cells but lack either T cells or immunoglobulin in the serum, we established that B cells have an impact on fibrosis in an antibody- and T cell-independent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]