Regulation of Germinal Center Reactions by B and T Cells

Antibodies

Young Uk Kim³  Xindong Liu²  Shinya Tanaka⁴  Dat Quoc Tran¹ 

[1] Department of Pediatrics, the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA; E-Mail:;Department of Immunology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA; E-Mail:;Center for Immunology and Autoimmune Diseases, Institute of Molecular Medicine, the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, TX 77030, USA; E-Mail:;Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; E-Mail:

关键词: T_FH;    T_FR;    B_REG;    Qa-1 restricted CD8⁺T_REG;    Germinal center;    B cells;    antibody;   

DOI  :  10.3390/antib2040554

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Break of B cell tolerance to self-antigens results in the development of autoantibodies and, thus, leads to autoimmunity. How B cell tolerance is maintained during active germinal center (GC) reactions is yet to be fully understood. Recent advances revealed several subsets of T cells and B cells that can positively or negatively regulate GC B cell responses in vivo. IL-21-producing CXCR5⁺ CD4⁺ T cells comprise a distinct lineage of helper T cells—termed follicular helper T cells (T_FH)—that can provide help for the development of GC reactions where somatic hypermutation and affinity maturation take place. Although the function of T_FH cells is beneficial in generating high affinity antibodies against infectious agents, aberrant activation of T_FH cell or B cell to self-antigens results in autoimmunity. At least three subsets of immune cells have been proposed as regulatory cells that can limit such antibody-mediated autoimmunity, including follicular regulatory T cells (T_FR), Qa-1 restricted CD8⁺ regulatory T cells (CD8⁺T_REG), and regulatory B cells (B_REG). In this review, we will discuss our current understanding of GC B cell regulation with specific emphasis on the newly identified immune cell subsets involved in this process.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.