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High-avidity autoreactive B cells are typically removed by central tolerance mechanisms in the bone marrow. Greaves et al. demonstrate that B cell–intrinsic expression of active PI3Kα prevents central tolerance and effectively promotes differentiation and activation of high-avidity autoreactive B cells in the periphery., Autoreactive B cells that bind self-antigen with high avidity in the bone marrow undergo mechanisms of central tolerance that prevent their entry into the peripheral B cell population. These mechanisms are breached in many autoimmune patients, increasing their risk of B cell–mediated autoimmune diseases. Resolving the molecular pathways that can break central B cell tolerance could therefore provide avenues to diminish autoimmunity. Here, we show that B cell–intrinsic expression of a constitutively active form of PI3K-P110α by high-avidity autoreactive B cells of mice completely abrogates central B cell tolerance and further promotes these cells to escape from the bone marrow, differentiate in peripheral tissue, and undergo activation in response to self-antigen. Upon stimulation with T cell help factors, these B cells secrete antibodies in vitro but remain unable to secrete autoantibodies in vivo. Overall, our data demonstrate that activation of the PI3K pathway leads high-avidity autoreactive B cells to breach central, but not late, stages of peripheral tolerance., Graphical Abstract

In this issue, human marginal zone B cell development is tracked from early progenitors to the memory compartment, addressing changes in age and autoimmunity, the sequence of development in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and clonal sharing among memory cells., In this issue, Tull et al. (https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20202001) and Kibler et al. (https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20201952) track human marginal zone B cell development from early progenitors to the memory compartment, addressing changes in age and autoimmunity, the sequence of development in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and clonal sharing among memory cells.

A novel site-targeted murine complement inhibitor, CR2-CD59, specifically inhibits the terminal membrane attack complex. This inhibitor dissects the complement pathway to protect against liver injury while promoting regeneration in mouse models of liver resection and acute liver failure., Liver resection is commonly performed under ischemic conditions, resulting in two types of insult to the remnant liver: ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) and loss of liver mass. Complement inhibition is recognized as a potential therapeutic modality for IRI, but early complement activation products are also essential for liver regeneration. We describe a novel site-targeted murine complement inhibitor, CR2-CD59, which specifically inhibits the terminal membrane attack complex (MAC), and we use this protein to investigate the complement-dependent balance between liver injury and regeneration in a clinical setting of pharmacological inhibition. CR2-CD59 did not impact in vivo generation of C3 and C5 activation products but was as effective as the C3 activation inhibitor CR2-Crry at ameliorating hepatic IRI, indicating that the MAC is the principle mediator of hepatic IRI. Furthermore, unlike C3 or C5 inhibition, CR2-CD59 was not only protective but significantly enhanced hepatocyte proliferation after partial hepatectomy, including when combined with ischemia and reperfusion. Remarkably, CR2-CD59 also enhanced regeneration after 90% hepatectomy and improved long-term survival from 0 to 70%. CR2-CD59 functioned by increasing hepatic TNF and IL-6 levels with associated STAT3 and Akt activation, and by preventing mitochondrial depolarization and allowing recovery of ATP stores.

Selection of recently formed B cells into the follicular or marginal zone (MZ) compartments is proposed to occur by way of proliferative intermediates expressing high levels of CD21/35 and CD23. However, we show that CD21/35high CD23+ splenocytes are not enriched for proliferative cells, and do not contribute substantially to the generation of follicular B cells. Instead, ontogenic relationships, steady-state labeling kinetics, and adoptive transfer experiments suggest that CD21/35high CD23+ splenocytes serve primarily as precursors for MZ B cells, although their developmental potential seems to be broader and is influenced by environmental cues that are associated with lymphopenia. Furthermore, CD21/35high CD23+ splenocytes share several key functional characteristics with MZ B cells, including their capacity to trap T-independent antigen and a heightened proliferative response to LPS. These observations challenge previous models of peripheral B cell maturation, and suggest that MZ B cells develop by way of CD21/35high CD23+ intermediates.

Humoral immune responses are thought to be enhanced by complement-mediated recruitment of the CD21–CD19–CD81 coreceptor complex into the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) complex, which lowers the threshold of B cell activation and increases the survival and proliferative capacity of responding B cells. To investigate the role of the CD21–CD35 complement receptors in the generation of B cell memory, we analyzed the response against viral particles derived from the bacteriophage Qβ in mice deficient in CD21–CD35 (Cr2−/−). Despite highly efficient induction of early antibody responses and germinal center (GC) reactions to immunization with Qβ, Cr2−/− mice exhibited impaired antibody persistence paralleled by a strongly reduced development of bone marrow plasma cells. Surprisingly, antigen-specific memory B cells were essentially normal in these mice. In the absence of CD21-mediated costimulation, Qβ-specific post-GC B cells failed to induce the transcriptional regulators Blimp-1 and XBP-1 driving plasma cell differentiation, and the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2, which resulted in failure to generate the precursor population of long-lived plasma cells residing in the bone marrow. These results suggest that complement receptors maintain antibody responses by delivery of differentiation and survival signals to precursors of bone marrow plasma cells.

The lymph node follicular dendritic cell (FDC) network is derived from the expansion and differentiation of marginal reticular cells, as are the new FDCs generated during an immune response., Follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) regulate B cell function and development of high affinity antibody responses but little is known about their biology. FDCs associate in intricate cellular networks within secondary lymphoid organs. In vitro and ex vivo methods, therefore, allow only limited understanding of the genuine immunobiology of FDCs in their native habitat. Herein, we used various multicolor fate mapping systems to investigate the ontogeny and dynamics of lymph node (LN) FDCs in situ. We show that LN FDC networks arise from the clonal expansion and differentiation of marginal reticular cells (MRCs), a population of lymphoid stromal cells lining the LN subcapsular sinus. We further demonstrate that during an immune response, FDCs accumulate in germinal centers and that neither the recruitment of circulating progenitors nor the division of local mature FDCs significantly contributes to this accumulation. Rather, we provide evidence that newly generated FDCs also arise from the proliferation and differentiation of MRCs, thus unraveling a critical function of this poorly defined stromal cell population.

Only mature B lymphocytes can enter the lymphoid follicles of spleen and lymph nodes and thus efficiently participate in the immune response. Mature, long-lived B lymphocytes derive from short-lived precursors generated in the bone marrow. We show that selection into the mature pool is an active process and takes place in the spleen. Two populations of splenic B cells were identified as precursors for mature B cells. Transitional B cells of type 1 (T1) are recent immigrants from the bone marrow. They develop into the transitional B cells of type 2 (T2), which are cycling and found exclusively in the primary follicles of the spleen. Mature B cells can be generated from T1 or T2 B cells. Mice with genetic deletions of elements participating in the B cell receptor signaling cascade display developmental arrest at the T1 or T2 stage. The analysis of these defects showed that the development of T2 and mature B cells from T1 precursors requires defined qualitative and quantitative signals derived from the B cell receptor and that the induction of longevity and maturation requires different signals.

The CD19 cell surface molecule regulates signal transduction events critical for B lymphocyte development and humoral immunity. Increasing the density of CD19 expression renders B lymphocytes hyper-responsive to transmembrane signals, and transgenic mice that overexpress CD19 have increased levels of autoantibodies. The role of CD19 in tolerance regulation and autoantibody generation was therefore examined by crossing mice that overexpress a human CD19 transgene with transgenic mice expressing a model autoantigen (soluble hen egg lysozyme, sHEL) and high-affinity HEL-specific IgMa and IgDa (IgHEL) antigen receptors. In this model of peripheral tolerance, B cells in sHEL/IgHEL double-transgenic mice are functionally anergic and do not produce autoantibodies. However, it was found that overexpression of CD19 in sHEL/IgHEL double-transgenic mice resulted in a breakdown of peripheral tolerance and the production of anti-HEL antibodies at levels similar to those observed in IgHEL mice lacking the sHEL autoantigen. Therefore, altered signaling thresholds due to CD19 overexpression resulted in the breakdown of peripheral tolerance. Thus, CD19 overexpression shifts the balance between tolerance and immunity to autoimmunity by augmenting antigen receptor signaling.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), an oncogenic human herpesvirus, binds to and infects normal human B lymphocytes via CD21, the CR2 complement receptor. Studies of the mechanisms that enable EBV to infect nonactivated, noncycling B cells provide compelling evidence for a sequence of events in which EBV binding to CD21 on purified resting human B cells rapidly activates the NF-κB transcription factor, which, in turn, binds to and mediates transcriptional activation of Wp, the initial viral latent gene promoter. Thus, EBV binding to its cellular receptor on resting B cells triggers an NF-κB–dependent intracellular signaling pathway which is required for infection.

This paper describes an antibody (mAb 7D6) that specifically recognizes human follicular dendritic cells (FDCs). By expression cloning, a cDNA clone encoding for the long human CR2/ CD21 isoform (CD21L) that contains an additional exon (10a) was isolated. We demonstrated that FDCs selectively express CD21L, while B cells selectively express the short CR2/CD21 lacking exon 10a (CD21S). By screening mouse Ltk− cells transfected with the CD21L cDNA, we further showed that the other two anti–human FDC mAbs DRC-1 and KiM4 also recognize CD21L. Thus, CD21L represents the first characterized human FDC-specific molecule, which may confer unique functions of FDCs in germinal center development.

N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is an antioxidant precursor of intracellular glutathione (GSH), usually given in human as a mucolytic agent. In vitro, NAC and GSH have been shown to act on T cells by increasing interleukin (IL) 2 production, synthesis and turnover of IL-2 receptors, proliferation, cytotoxic properties, and resistance to apoptosis. We report here that NAC and GSH decrease in a dose-dependent manner human IL-4 production by stimulated peripheral blood T cells and by T helper (Th) 0- and Th2-like T cell clones. This effect was associated with a decrease in IL-4 messenger RNA transcription. In contrast, NAC and GSH had no effect on interferon gamma and increased IL-2 production and T cell proliferation. A functional consequence was the capacity of NAC and GSH to selectively decrease in a dose-dependent manner IL-4-induced immunoglobulin (Ig) E and IgG4 production by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Interestingly, NAC and GSH also acted directly on purified tonsillar B cells by decreasing the mature epsilon messenger RNA, hence decreasing IgE production. In contrast, IgA and IgM production were not affected. At the same time, B cell proliferation was increased in a dose-dependent manner. Not all antioxidants tested but only SH-bearing molecules mimicked these properties. Finally, when given orally to mice, NAC decreased both IgE and IgG1 antibody responses to ovalbumin. These results demonstrate that NAC, GSH, and other thiols may control the production of both the Th2-derived cytokine IL-4 and IL-4-induced Ig in vitro and in vivo.

The CD21/CD19/TAPA-1 complex of B lymphocytes amplifies signal transduction through membrane immunoglobulin (mIg), recruits phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase), and induces homotypic cellular aggregation. The complex is unique among known membrane protein complexes of the immune system because its components represent different protein families, and can be expressed individually. By constructing chimeric molecules replacing the extracellular, transmembrane, and cytoplasmic regions of CD19 and CD21 with those of HLA-A2 and CD4, we have determined that CD19 and TAPA-1 interact through their extracellular domains, CD19 and CD21 through their extracellular and transmembrane domains, and, in a separate complex, CD21 and CD35 through their extracellular domains. A chimeric form of CD19 that does not interact with CD21 or TAPA-1 was expressed in Daudi B lymphoblastoid cells and was shown to replicate two functions of wild-type CD19 contained within the complex: synergistic interaction with mIgM to increase intracellular free calcium and tyrosine phosphorylation and association with the p85 subunit of PI3-kinase after ligation of mIgM. The chimeric CD19 lacked the capacity of the wild-type CD19 to induce homotypic cellular aggregation, a function of the complex that can be ascribed to the TAPA-1 component. The CD21/CD19/TAPA-1 complex brings together independently functioning subunits to enable the B cell to respond to low concentrations of antigen.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) adsorption to human B lymphocytes is mediated by the viral envelope glycoprotein, gp350/220, which binds to the cell surface protein, CD21, also known as the CR2 complement receptor. Human epithelial cells also express an EBV receptor. A candidate surface molecule of 195 kD has previously been identified on an epithelial cell line and explanted epithelial tissue by reactivity with the CD21 specific monoclonal antibody (mAb), HB-5a. In experiments to further characterize the epithelial cell EBV receptor, we have found that two human epithelial cell lines, RHEK-1 and HeLa, specifically bind intact EB virions. A 145-kD protein, similar in size to B lymphocyte CD21, was specifically precipitated from surface iodinated RHEK-1 cells using the HB-5a mAb, or using purified soluble gp350/220 coupled to agarose beads. The previously identified 195-kD protein did not bind to gp350/220 or react with two other anti-CD21 mAbs. CD21 homologous RNA, similar in size to the B lymphocyte CD21 mRNA, was detected in both RHEK-1 and HeLa cells. The nucleotide sequence of the epithelial cell cDNA was identical to B lymphocyte CD21. The longest clone differs from previously reported CD21 cDNAs in having additional 5' untranslated sequence. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of RHEK-1- or B lymphoblastoid-derived cDNA verified that most CD21 transcripts are initiated at least 30-50 nucleotides upstream of the previously reported mRNA cap site. These experiments demonstrate that human epithelial cells can express CD21, and that CD21 is likely to mediate EBV adsorption to epithelial cells.

Complement receptor type 2 (CR2;CD21), a member of the superfamily of proteins containing short consensus repeats (SCRs), is the B cell receptor for both the gp350/220 envelope protein of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and for the C3dg protein of complement. By analysis of CR2 deletion mutants and chimeras formed with CR1 (CD35) we determined that of the 15 SCRs in CR2, the NH2-terminal two SCRs are necessary and sufficient to bind both gp350/220 and C3dg with affinities equivalent to those of the wild-type receptor. The epitope for OKB-7, a mAb that blocks binding of both EBV and C3dg and shares with these ligands B cell-activating capabilities, also requires both SCR-1 and SCR-2, whereas mAbs lacking these functions bind to other SCRs. Thus, EBV, a polyclonal activator of B cells, has selected a site that is proximate or identical to the natural ligand binding site in CR2, perhaps reflecting the relative immutability of that site as well as its signal transducing function.