Humoral immunity to viruses and encapsulated bacteria is comprised of T cell–independent type 2 (TI-2) antibody responses that are characterized by rapid antibody production by marginal zone and B1 B cells. We demonstrate that toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands influence the TI-2 antibody response not only by enhancing the overall magnitude but also by skewing this response to one that is dominated by IgG isotypes. Importantly, TLR ligands facilitate this response by inducing type I interferon (IFN), which in turn elicits rapid and significant amounts of antigen-specific IgG2c predominantly from FO (follicular) B cells. Furthermore, we show that although the IgG2c antibody response requires B cell–autonomous IFN-α receptor signaling, it is independent of B cell–intrinsic TLR signaling. Thus, innate signals have the capacity to enhance TI-2 antibody responses by promoting participation of FO B cells, which then elaborate effective IgG anti-pathogen antibodies.

SUMMARY

During B cell development, immature B cell fate is determined by whether the B cell antigen receptor is engaged in the bone marrow. Immature B cells that are non-autoreactive continue maturation and emigrate from the marrow whereas autoreactive immature B cells remain and are tolerized. However, the microenvironment where these events occur and the chemoattractants responsible for immature B cell trafficking within and out of the bone marrow remain largely undefined. Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is a chemoattractant that directs lymphocyte trafficking and thymocyte egress and in this study we investigated whether S1P contributed to B cell development, egress and positioning within the bone marrow. Our findings show that immature B cells are chemotactic towards S1P but that this response is dependent on antigen receptor specificity: non-autoreactive, but not autoreactive, immature B cells migrate towards S1P and are shown to require S1P3 receptor for this response. Despite this response, S1P3 is shown not to facilitate immature B cell egress but is required for normal B cell development including the positioning of transitional B cells within bone marrow sinusoids. These data indicate that S1P3 signaling directs immature B cells to a bone marrow microenvironment important for both tolerance induction and maturation.

Lsc is a hematopoietic-restricted protein that functions as an effector of Gα12/13-associated G-protein coupled receptors that activates RhoA. In the absence of Lsc leukocytes exhibit impaired migration and B lymphocytes inefficiently resolve integrin-mediated adhesion. Here, we demonstrate that Lsc exists physiologically in primary B lymphocytes as a large molecular weight complex resembling a homo-tetramer. Interfering with the assembly of this large molecular weight Lsc oligomer results in the activation of both Lsc functional activities and leads to cell rounding and inhibition of integrin-mediated adhesion. During cell migration on integrin ligands we find Lsc localizes predominantly toward the rear of migrating cells where we suggest it activates RhoA to resolve integin-mediated adhesion. Together these data demonstrate that Lsc regulates integrin-mediated adhesive events at the trailing edge of migrating cells.

Exposure to second hand tobacco smoke is associated with the development and/or exacerbation of several different pulmonary diseases in humans. To better understand the possible effects of second hand smoke exposure in humans, we sub-chronically (4 weeks) exposed mice to a mixture of mainstream and sidestream tobacco smoke at concentrations similar to second hand smoke exposure in humans. The inflammatory response to smoke exposures was assessed at the end of this time by enumeration of pulmonary leukocyte infiltration together with measurements of lung elastance and pathology. This response was measured in both healthy wild type (C57BL/6) mice as well as mouse mutants deficient in the expression of Arhgef1 (Arhgef1−/−) that display constitutive pulmonary inflammation and decreased lung elastance reminiscent of emphysema. The results from this study show that sub-chronic second hand smoke exposure leads to significantly increased numbers of airspace leukocytes in both healthy and mutant animals. While sub-chronic cigarette smoke exposure is not sufficient to induce changes in lung architecture as measured by mean linear intercept, both groups exhibit a significant decrease in lung elastance. Together these data demonstrate that even sub-chronic exposure to second hand smoke is sufficient to induce pulmonary inflammation and decrease lung elastance in both healthy and diseased animals and in the absence of tissue destruction.

Hematopoietic humanized mice generated via transplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells (hHSCs) into immunodeficient mice are a valuable tool for studying development and function of the human immune system. This study was performed to generate a protocol that improves development and quality of humanized mice in the BALB/c-Rag2nullIl2rγnull strain, testing route of injection, in vitro culture and freezing of hHSCs, types of cytokines in the culture, and co-injection of lineage-depleted CD34− cells. Specific hHSC culturing conditions and the addition of support cells were found to increase the frequency, and human hematopoietic chimerism, of humanized mice. The optimized protocol resulted in BALB/c-Rag2nullIl2rγnull humanized mice displaying more consistent human hematopoietic and lymphoid engraftment. Thus, hematopoietic humanized mice generated on a BALB/c immunodeficient background represent a useful model to study the human immune system.

The Glucocorticoid-Induced Tumor necrosis factor Receptor GITR, a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, has been shown to be important in modulating immune responses in the context of T cell immunity. B lymphocytes also express GITR, but a role of GITR in humoral immunity has not been fully explored. To address this question, we performed studies to determine the kinetics of GITR expression on naïve and stimulated B cells and the capacity of B cells to develop and mount antibody responses in GITR−/− mice. Results of our studies indicate that all mature B cells express GITR on the cell surface, albeit at different levels. Expression of GITR on naïve mature B cells is upregulated by BCR signaling, but is counteracted by helper T cell-related factors and other inflammatory signals in vitro. In line with these findings, expression of GITR on germinal center and memory B cells is lower than that on naïve B cells. However, the expression of GITR is strongly upregulated in plasma cells. Despite these differences in GITR expression, the absence of GITR has no effect on T cell-dependent and T cell-independent antibody responses to model antigens in GITR−/− mice, or on B cell activation and proliferation in vitro. GITR deficiency manifests only with a slight reduction of mature B cell numbers and increased turnover of naïve B cells, suggesting that GITR slightly contributes to mature B cell homeostasis. Overall, our data indicate that GITR does not play a significant role in B cell development and antibody responses to T-dependent and independent model antigens within the context of a GITR-deficient genetic background.

BAFF is an important pro-survival cytokine for mature B cells. However, previous studies have shown that the BAFF receptor, BAFF-R, is already expressed at the immature B cell stage, and that the pro-survival protein Bcl-2 does not completely complement the B cell defects resulting from the absence of BAFF-R or BAFF. Thus, we hypothesized that BAFF also functions to aid the differentiation of non-autoreactive immature B cells into transitional B cells and to promote their positive selection. We found that BAFF-R is expressed at higher levels on non-autoreactive than autoreactive immature B cells and that its expression correlates with that of surface IgM and with tonic BCR signaling. Our data indicate that BAFF-R signaling enhances the generation of transitional CD23− B cells in vitro by increasing cell survival. In vivo, however, BAFF-R signaling is dispensable for the generation of CD23− transitional B cells in the bone marrow, but is important for the development of transitional CD23− T1 B cells in the spleen. In addition, we show that BAFF is essential for the differentiation of CD23− into CD23+ transitional B cells both in vitro and in vivo through a mechanism distinct from that mediating cell survival, but requiring tonic BCR signaling. In summary, our data indicate that BAFF-R and tonic BCR signals cooperate to enable non-autoreactive immature B cells to differentiate into transitional B cells and to be positively selected into the naïve B cell repertoire.

B cell receptors (BCRs) generate tonic signals critical for B cell survival and early B cell development. To determine whether these signals also mediate the development of transitional and mature B cells, we examined B cell development using a mouse strain in which nonautoreactive immunoglobulin heavy and light chain–targeted B cells express low surface BCR levels. We found that reduced BCR expression translated into diminished tonic BCR signals that strongly impaired the development of transitional and mature B cells. Constitutive expression of Bcl-2 did not rescue the differentiation of BCR-low B cells, suggesting that this defect was not related to decreased cell survival. In contrast, activation of the Ras pathway rescued the differentiation of BCR-low immature B cells both in vitro and in vivo, whereas extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) inhibition impaired the differentiation of normal immature B cells. These results strongly suggest that tonic BCR signaling mediates the differentiation of immature into transitional and mature B cells via activation of Erk, likely through a pathway requiring Ras.

Rationale: Arhgef1 is an intracellular protein, expressed by hematopoietic cells, that regulates signaling by both G protein–coupled receptors and RhoA, and, consequently, is required for appropriate migration and adhesion of diverse leukocyte populations.

Objectives: To evaluate a possible contribution for Arhgef1 in the development of airway inflammation and airway hyperreactivity.

Methods: Arhgef1-deficient (Arhgef1−/−) and wild-type (WT) mice were sensitized and airway challenged, followed by measurement of airway responsiveness to inhaled methacholine. Inflammation was assessed by several parameters that included flow cytometric analysis and histology. Arhgef1-deficient recipients were reconstituted with WT T lymphocytes before sensitization and challenge, and again measured for airway responsiveness and inflammation. Cytokine production in response to specific antigen was measured in cultures of isolated leukocytes from lung and spleen and compared with the levels generated in lung and spleen explant cultures.

Measurements and Main Results: Arhgef1−/− mice display significantly reduced airway hyperreactivity, Th2 cytokine production, and lung inflammation, despite intact systemic immunity. After airway challenge of Arhgef1−/− mice, antigen-specific T cells were present in mutant lungs, but were found to interact with CD11c+ cells at a significantly reduced frequency. Adoptive transfer of WT T cells into Arhgef1−/− mice restored airway hyperreactivity and inflammation.

Conclusions: These data demonstrate that T cells depend on Arhgef1 to promote lung inflammation. Moreover, a deficiency in Arhgef1 results in reduced T cell–CD11c+ antigen-presenting cell interaction, and likely underscores the inability of Arhgef1−/− mice to mount an adaptive immune response to airway challenge.

IL-23 induces IL-17 production in activated CD4+ T cells and participates in host defense against many encapsulated bacteria. However, whether IL-23/IL-17 axis contributes to a Mycoplasma pneumoniae (Mp)-induced lung inflammation (e.g., neutrophils) has not been addressed. Using an acute respiratory Mp infection murine model, we found significantly up-regulated lung IL-23p19 mRNA in the early phase of infection (4 h), and alveolar macrophages were an important cell source of Mp-induced IL-23. We further showed that Mp significantly increased IL-17 protein levels in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Lung gene expression of IL-17, IL-17C and IL-17F was also markedly up-regulated by Mp in vivo. IL-17 and IL-17F were found to be derived mainly from lung CD4+ T cells, and were increased upon IL-23 stimulation in vitro. In vivo blocking of IL-23p19 alone or in combination with IL-23/IL-12p40 resulted in a significant reduction of Mp-induced IL-17 protein and IL-17/IL-17F mRNA expression, which was accompanied by a trend toward reduced lung neutrophil recruitment, BAL neutrophil activity, and Mp clearance. However, IL-23 neutralization had no effect on Mp-induced lung IL-17C mRNA expression. These results demonstrate that IL-17/IL-17F production is IL-23-dependent in an acute Mp infection, and contributes to neutrophil recruitment and activity in lung defense against the infection.