B cells can suppress autoimmunity by secreting interleukin-10 (IL-10). Although subpopulations of splenic B lineage cells are reported to express IL-10 in vitro, the identity of IL-10-producing B ...cells with regulatory function in vivo remains unknown. By using IL-10 reporter mice, we found that plasmablasts in the draining lymph nodes (dLNs), but not splenic B lineage cells, predominantly expressed IL-10 during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). These plasmablasts were generated only during EAE inflammation. Mice lacking plasmablasts by genetic ablation of the transcription factors Blimp1 or IRF4 in B lineage cells developed an exacerbated EAE. Furthermore, IRF4 positively regulated IL-10 production that can inhibit dendritic cell functions to generate pathogenic T cells. Our data demonstrate that plasmablasts in the dLNs serve as IL-10 producers to limit autoimmune inflammation and emphasize the importance of plasmablasts as IL-10-producing regulatory B cells.
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•Plasmablasts predominantly express IL-10 in the dLNS during EAE induction•Plasmablasts prevent dendritic cells from generating pathogenic T cells•Deficiency of plasmablasts in mice develops an exacerbated EAE•Human plasmablasts derived from naive B cells selectively produce IL-10
Although B cells can suppress autoimmunity by secreting interleukin-10 (IL-10), their identification in vivo remains elusive. Baba and colleagues show that plasmablasts in the draining lymph nodes are predominant IL-10 producers that inhibit autoimmune inflammation.
Dendritic cells (DCs) are the sentinels of the immune system, sensing a diverse array of pathogens to stimulate a robust and appropriate immune response. To initiate responses to highly disparate ...challenges, DCs have diversified into multiple phenotypically, anatomically, and functionally distinct cell types. As a result of the application of new single-cell technologies, the full extent of this diversity, as well as the developmental relationships of the DC lineages, is currently undergoing reassessment. Here, we review the cellular and molecular evidence that underpins current models of DC differentiation and functional diversification in the murine and human systems. We discuss these models in the context of the diversity revealed by single-cell studies and propose that understanding DC identity will require defining the regulatory interactions that control gene expression in these cells.
Dendritic cells (DCs) are the sentinels of the immune system. New disruptive technologies have identified novel populations and challenged long-held beliefs on the relationship between the DC lineages. Nutt and Chopin examine DC differentiation from a transcriptional perspective and describe the factors that program the DC network.
Antibodies are an essential component of our immune system, underpinning the effectiveness of both the primary immune response to microbial pathogens and the protective and long‐lived immunity ...against re‐challenge. All antibodies are produced by relatively rare populations of plasmablasts and plasma cells, collectively termed antibody‐secreting cells (ASCs). It is now apparent that ASCs are unique in the body in terms of their gene expression program and metabolic pathways that enable these cells to have an extraordinary rate of immunoglobulin gene transcription, translation, assembly and secretion. In this review we will discuss the cellular, metabolic and molecular specialization that allows ASCs to maintain such high rates of antibody production, in some cases for the life of the individual. Throughout the review we will link these exquisite cellular and molecular adaptations to the major regulators of ASC gene expression, in an attempt to define how the ASC phenotype and function is genetically programmed.
Plasma cells are the highly specialized endpoint of the B‐cell lineage. During the terminal differentiation process, plasma cells undergo major remodelling of their transcriptome, cytoplasmic structure and metabolism that facilitates the production of enormous quantities of antibody while allowing plasma cells to achieve extreme longevity.
The regulation of antibody production is linked to the generation and maintenance of plasmablasts and plasma cells from their B cell precursors. Plasmablasts are the rapidly produced and short-lived ...effector cells of the early antibody response, whereas plasma cells are the long-lived mediators of lasting humoral immunity. An extraordinary number of control mechanisms, at both the cellular and molecular levels, underlie the regulation of this essential arm of the immune response. Despite this complexity, the terminal differentiation of B cells can be described as a simple probabilistic process that is governed by a central gene-regulatory network and modified by environmental stimuli.
Regulatory T (Treg) cells are essential for immunological tolerance and homeostasis. Although forkhead box (Fox)p3 is continually required to reinforce the Treg cell program, Treg cells can also ...undergo stimulus-specific differentiation that is regulated by transcription factors typically associated with the differentiation of conventional CD4+ T cells. This results in effector Treg (eTreg) cells with unique migratory and functional properties matched to the stimulus that elicited the initial response. Despite this functional and transcriptional heterogeneity, expression of the transcription factor B lymphocyte-induced maturation protein (Blimp)-1, a key player in late B cell and conventional T cell differentiation, is common to all eTreg cells. Here, we discuss the factors that control the differentiation of eTreg cells and their importance in disease settings.
Specialized subsets of dendritic cells (DCs) provide a crucial link between the innate and adaptive immune responses. The genetic programme that coordinates these distinct DC subsets is controlled by ...both cytokines and transcription factors. The initial steps in DC specification occur in the bone marrow and result in the generation of precursors committed to either the plasmacytoid or conventional DC pathways. DCs undergo further differentiation and lineage diversification in peripheral organs in response to local environmental cues. In this Review, we discuss new evidence regarding the coordination of the specification and commitment of precursor cells to different DC subsets and highlight the ensemble of transcription factors that control these processes.
Summary
Antibodies are an essential element of the immune response to infection, and in long‐term protection upon re‐exposure to the same micro‐organism. Antibodies are produced by plasmablasts and ...plasma cells, the terminally differentiated cells of the B lymphocyte lineage. These relatively rare populations, collectively termed antibody secreting cells (ASCs), have developed highly specialized transcriptional and metabolic pathways to facilitate their extraordinarily high rates of antibody synthesis and secretion. In this review, we discuss the gene regulatory network that controls ASC identity and function, with a particular focus on the processes that influence the transcription, translation, folding, modification and secretion of antibodies. We will address how ASCs have adapted their transcriptional, metabolic and protein homeostasis pathways to sustain such high rates of antibody production, and the roles that the major ASC regulators, the transcription factors, Irf4, Blimp‐1 and Xbp1, play in co‐ordinating these processes.
Since their discovery, innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have been described as the innate counterpart of the T cells. Indeed, ILCs and T cells share many features including their common progenitors, ...transcriptional regulation, and effector cytokine secretion. Several studies have shown complementary and redundant roles for ILCs and T cells, leaving open questions regarding why these cells would have been evolutionarily conserved. It has become apparent in the last decade that ILCs, and rare immune cells more generally, that reside in non-lymphoid tissue have non-canonical functions for immune cells that contribute to tissue homeostasis and function. Viewed through this lens, ILCs would not be just the innate counterpart of T cells, but instead act as a link between sensory cells that monitor any changes in the environment that are not necessarily pathogenic and instruct effector cells that act to maintain body homeostasis. As these non-canonical functions of immune cells are operating in absence of pathogenic signals, it opens great avenues of research for immunologists that they now need to identify the physiological cues that regulate these cells and how the process confers a finer level of control and a greater flexibility that enables the organism to adapt to changing environmental conditions. In the review, we highlight how ILCs participate in the physiologic function of the tissue in which they reside and how physiological cues, in particular neural inputs control their homeostatic activity.
Plasma cell differentiation requires silencing of B cell transcription, while it establishes antibody-secretory function and long-term survival. The transcription factors Blimp-1 and IRF4 are ...essential for the generation of plasma cells; however, their function in mature plasma cells has remained elusive. We found that while IRF4 was essential for the survival of plasma cells, Blimp-1 was dispensable for this. Blimp-1-deficient plasma cells retained their transcriptional identity but lost the ability to secrete antibody. Blimp-1 regulated many components of the unfolded protein response (UPR), including XBP-1 and ATF6. The overlap in the functions of Blimp-1 and XBP-1 was restricted to that response, with Blimp-1 uniquely regulating activity of the kinase mTOR and the size of plasma cells. Thus, Blimp-1 was required for the unique physiological ability of plasma cells that enables the secretion of protective antibody.
The transcription factor Blimp-1 is necessary for the generation of plasma cells. Here we studied its functions in plasmablast differentiation by identifying regulated Blimp-1 target genes. Blimp-1 ...promoted the migration and adhesion of plasmablasts. It directly repressed genes encoding several transcription factors and Aicda (which encodes the cytidine deaminase AID) and thus silenced B cell-specific gene expression, antigen presentation and class-switch recombination in plasmablasts. It directly activated genes, which led to increased expression of the plasma cell regulator IRF4 and proteins involved in immunoglobulin secretion. Blimp-1 induced the transcription of immunoglobulin genes by controlling the 3' enhancers of the loci encoding the immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) and κ-light chain (Igk) and, furthermore, regulated the post-transcriptional expression switch from the membrane-bound form of the immunoglobulin heavy chain to its secreted form by activating Ell2 (which encodes the transcription-elongation factor ELL2). Notably, Blimp-1 recruited chromatin-remodeling and histone-modifying complexes to regulate its target genes. Hence, many essential functions of plasma cells are under the control of Blimp-1.
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