The peritoneal cavity (PerC) is a unique compartment within which a variety of immune cells reside, and from which macrophages (MØ) are commonly drawn for functional studies. Here we define two MØ ...subsets that coexist in PerC in adult mice. One, provisionally called the large peritoneal MØ (LPM), contains approximately 90% of the PerC MØ in unstimulated animals but disappears rapidly from PerC following lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or thioglycolate stimulation. These cells express high levels of the canonical MØ surface markers, CD11b and F4/80. The second subset, referred to as small peritoneal MØ (SPM), expresses substantially lower levels of CD11b and F4/80 but expresses high levels of MHC-II, which is not expressed on LPM. SPM, which predominates in PerC after LPS or thioglycolate stimulation, does not derive from LPM. Instead, it derives from blood monocytes that rapidly enter the PerC after stimulation and differentiate to mature SPM within 2 to 4 d. Both subsets show clear phagocytic activity and both produce nitric oxide (NO) in response to LPS stimulation in vivo. However, their responses to LPS show key differences: in vitro, LPS stimulates LPM, but not SPM, to produce NO; in vivo, LPS stimulates both subsets to produce NO, albeit with different response patterns. These findings extend current models of MØ heterogeneity and shed new light on PerC MØ diversity, development, and function. Thus, they introduce a new context for interpreting (and reinterpreting) data from ex vivo studies with PerC MØ.
B cells are key components of cellular and humoral immunity and, like all lymphocytes, are thought to originate and renew from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). However, our recent single-HSC transfer ...studies demonstrate that adult bone marrow HSCs do not regenerate B-1a, a subset of tissue B cells required for protection against pneumonia, influenza, and other infections. Since B-1a are regenerated by transfers of fetal liver, the question arises as to whether B-1a derive from fetal, but not adult, HSCs. Here we show that, similar to adult HSCs, fetal HSCs selectively fail to regenerate B-1a. We also show that, in humanized mice, human fetal liver regenerates tissue B cells that are phenotypically similar to murine B-1a, raising the question of whether human HSC transplantation, the mainstay of such models, is sufficient to regenerate human B-1a. Thus, our studies overtly challenge the current paradigm that HSCs give rise to all components of the immune system.
•Purified LT-HSC transplantation fails to fully regenerate the murine immune system•LT-HSC transplants selectively fail to regenerate B-1a cells•LT-HSC transplantation does not regenerate VH11-encoded natural antibodies•Human fetal liver regenerate peritoneal B cells that resemble murine B-1a
Ghosn and colleagues show that purified HSC transplantation selectively fails to regenerate B-1a, a subset of B cells known to be required for protection against pneumonia, influenza, and other infections. Moreover, HSC transplantation does not restore a key repertoire (VH11) of natural antibodies, raising the question of whether human HSC transplantation is sufficient to fully regenerate the immune system.
Amyloid fibrils composed of peptides as short as six amino acids are therapeutic in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), reducing paralysis and inflammation, while inducing several ...pathways of immune suppression. Intraperitoneal injection of fibrils selectively activates B-1a lymphocytes and two populations of resident macrophages (MΦs), increasing IL-10 production, and triggering their exodus from the peritoneum. The importance of IL-10–producing B-1a cells in this effective therapy was established in loss-of-function experiments where neither B-cell–deficient (μMT) nor IL10−/−mice with EAE responded to the fibrils. In gain-of-function experiments, B-1a cells, adoptively transferred to μMT mice with EAE, restored their therapeutic efficacy when Amylin 28–33 was administered. Stimulation of adoptively transferred bioluminescent MΦs and B-1a cells by amyloid fibrils resulted in rapid (within 60 min of injection) trafficking of both cell types to draining lymph nodes. Analysis of gene expression indicated that the fibrils activated the CD40/B-cell receptor pathway in B-1a cells and induced a set of immune-suppressive cell-surface proteins, including BTLA, IRF4, and Siglec G. Collectively, these data indicate that the fibrils activate B-1a cells and F4/80⁺ MΦs, resulting in their migration to the lymph nodes, where IL-10 and cell-surface receptors associated with immune-suppression limit antigen presentation and T-cell activation. These mechanisms culminate in reduction of paralytic signs of EAE.
The question of whether a single hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gives rise to all of the B-cell subsets B-1a, B-1b, B-2, and marginal zone (MZ) B cells in the mouse has been discussed for many years ...without resolution. Studies here finally demonstrate that individual HSCs sorted from adult bone marrow and transferred to lethally irradiated recipients clearly give rise to B-2, MZ B, and B-1b, but does not detectably reconstitute B-1a cells. These findings place B-2, MZ, and B-1b in a single adult developmental lineage and place B-1a in a separate lineage derived from HSCs that are rare or missing in adults. We discuss these findings with respect to known developmental heterogeneity in other HSC-derived lymphoid, myeloid, and erythroid lineages, and how HSC developmental heterogeneity conforms to the layered model of the evolution of the immune system that we proposed some years ago. In addition, of importance to contemporary medicine, we consider the implications that HSC developmental heterogeneity may have for selecting HSC sources for human transplantation.
Tissue-resident macrophages (TRMΦ) are important immune sentinels responsible for maintaining tissue and immune homeostasis within their specific niche. Recently, the origins of TRMΦ have undergone ...intense scrutiny, in which now most TRMΦ are thought to originate early during embryonic development independent of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We previously characterized two distinct subsets of mouse peritoneal cavity macrophages (MΦ) (large and small peritoneal MΦ) whose origins and relationship to both fetal and adult long-term (LT) HSCs have not been fully investigated. In this study, we employ highly purified LT-HSC transplantation and in vivo lineage tracing to show a dual ontogeny for large and small peritoneal MΦ, in which the initial wave of peritoneal MΦ is seeded from yolk sac-derived precursors, which later require LT-HSCs for regeneration. In contrast, transplanted fetal and adult LT-HSCs are not able to regenerate brain-resident microglia. Thus, we demonstrate that LT-HSCs retain the potential to develop into TRMΦ, but their requirement is tissue specific in the peritoneum and brain.
In the companion article by Yang and colleagues Yang Y, et al. (2012) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 109, 10.1073/pnas.1121631109, we have shown that priming with glycolipid (FtL) from Francisella ...tularensis live-vaccine strain (i) induces FtL-specific B-1a to produce robust primary responses (IgM >>IgG); (ii) establishes persistent long-term production of serum IgM and IgG anti-FtL at natural antibody levels; and (iii) elicits FtL-specific B-1a memory cells that arise in spleen but rapidly migrate to the peritoneal cavity, where they persist indefinitely but divide only rarely. Here, we show that FtL rechallenge alone induces these PerC B-1a memory cells to divide extensively and to express a unique activation signature. However, FtL rechallenge in the context of a Toll-like receptor 4 agonist-stimulated inflammatory response readily induces these memory cells to migrate to spleen and initiate production of dominant IgM anti-FtL secondary responses. Thus, studies here reveal unique mechanisms that govern B-1a memory development and expression, and introduce B-1a memory as an active participant in immune defenses. In addition, at a practical level, these studies suggest previously unexplored vaccination strategies for pathogen-associated antigens that target the B-1a repertoire.
B-1a cells are primarily thought of as natural antibody-producing cells. However, we now show that appropriate antigenic stimulation induces IgM and IgG B-1a antibody responses and long-lived ...T-independent antigen-specific B-1a memory that differs markedly from canonical B-2 humoral immunity. Thus, we show here that in the absence of inflammation, priming with glycolipid (FtL) from Francisella tularensis live vaccine strain induces splenic FtL-specific B-1a to mount dominant IgM and activation-induced cytidine deaminase-dependent IgG anti-FtL responses that occur within 3–5 d of FtL priming and fade within 1 wk to natural antibody levels that persist indefinitely in the absence of secondary FtL immunization. Equally surprising, FtL priming elicits long-term FtL-specific B-1a memory cells (IgM>>IgG) that migrate rapidly to the peritoneal cavity and persist there indefinitely, ready to respond to appropriately administrated secondary antigenic stimulation. Unlike B-2 responses, primary FtL-specific B-1a responses and establishment of persistent FtL-specific B-1a memory occur readily in the absence of adjuvants, IL-7, T cells, or germinal center support. However, in another marked departure from the mechanisms controlling B-2 memory responses, rechallenge with FtL in an inflammatory context is required to induce B-1a secondary antibody responses. These findings introduce previously unexplored vaccination strategies for pathogens that target the B-1a repertoire.
Peritoneal cavity (PerC) B-1 cells have long been known to express CD11b, which is coexpressed with CD18 to form the Mac-1/CR3 complement receptor and adhesion molecule. However, although all PerC ...B-1 cells are commonly believed to express CD11b, we show here that nearly half of the cells in each of the PerC B-1 subsets (B-1a and B-1b) do not express this surface receptor. The CD11b⁺ cells in each B-1 subset are larger and more granular and express higher levels of surface IgM than the CD11b⁻ B-1 cells. In addition, the CD11b⁺ B-1 cells initiate the formation of tightly associated doublets that are present at high frequency in adult PerC. Finally, and most importantly from a developmental standpoint, the CD11b⁺ B-1 cells have a limited reconstitution capability: when sorted and transferred into congenic recipients, they reconstitute their own (CD11b⁺) B-1 subset but do not reconstitute the CD11b⁻ B-1 subset. In contrast, CD11b⁻ B-1 cells transferred under the same conditions efficiently replenish all components of the PerC B-1 population in appropriate proportions. During ontogeny, CD11b⁻ B-1 cells appear before CD11b⁺ B-1 cells. However, the clear phenotypic differences between the neonatal and adult CD11b B-1 subsets argue that although CD11b⁻ B-1 give rise to CD11b⁺ B-1 in both cases different forces may regulate this transition.
Abstract
Recent progress in developmental immunology has revealed the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC)-independent ontogeny for the various hematopoietic lineages, including mast cells (MC). Adult bone ...marrow (BM) HSCs fail to generate MC in both lineage tracing and transplantation assays. However, it is unclear whether fetal liver (FL) HSCs can generate MC in vivo. We investigated the MC potential of HSCs from FL and the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) in lineage tracing and transplantation assays. We employed different genetic mouse models that allowed us to identify the Tomato+ progeny of hematopoietic precursors (Runx1mer-cre-mer), endothelial cells (EC, Cdh5ERT2Cre) and HSCs (Fgd5ERT2Cre) by injecting tamoxifen (TAM) at different embryonic days starting at E7.5. TdTomato (Tom)+ HSCs and MCs were quantified after birth. In addition, we transplanted HSCs from AGM (11.5), FL (E12.5 and E15.5), and adult BM (>6 wks) into irradiated mice.
Results:
The EC-labeling at E7.5 efficiently generated Tomato+ MC, but not HSCs (similar results were obtained for the Runx1mer-cre-mer model). EC-labeling at E9.5 made equivalent Tom+ labeling efficiency in MC and HSCs (~85%). However, E11.5 EC mostly failed to mark MC, but still generated Tom+ HSCs (~25%). HSC-labeling at E14 or postnatal day 2 efficiently marked HSCs, but not MC. Collectively, our results indicate that active MC production terminates before E12 and that HSCs after E14 lack MC potential. Our transplantation study also shows lack of MC repopulation by HSCs after E15. However, E11.5 AGM and E12.5 FL HSCs repopulated MC, revealing a transient MC production potential of HSCs.
Conclusion:
MC production by hemogenic ECs terminates before E12 and early HSCs produce MC within a limited time window.
In cancer imaging, nanoparticle biodistribution is typically visualized in living subjects using 'bulk' imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography and whole-body ...fluorescence. Accordingly, nanoparticle influx is observed only macroscopically, and the mechanisms by which they target cancer remain elusive. Nanoparticles are assumed to accumulate via several targeting mechanisms, particularly extravasation (leakage into tumour). Here, we show that, in addition to conventional nanoparticle-uptake mechanisms, single-walled carbon nanotubes are almost exclusively taken up by a single immune cell subset, Ly-6C(hi) monocytes (almost 100% uptake in Ly-6C(hi) monocytes, below 3% in all other circulating cells), and delivered to the tumour in mice. We also demonstrate that a targeting ligand (RGD) conjugated to nanotubes significantly enhances the number of single-walled carbon nanotube-loaded monocytes reaching the tumour (P < 0.001, day 7 post-injection). The remarkable selectivity of this tumour-targeting mechanism demonstrates an advanced immune-based delivery strategy for enhancing specific tumour delivery with substantial penetration.