B cell–specific deficiencies in mTOR limit humoral immune responses

S Zhang, M Pruitt, D Tran, W Du Bois… - The Journal of …, 2013 - journals.aai.org
S Zhang, M Pruitt, D Tran, W Du Bois, K Zhang, R Patel, S Hoover, RM Simpson, J Simmons…
The Journal of Immunology, 2013journals.aai.org
Generation of high-affinity Abs in response to Ags/infectious agents is essential for
developing long-lasting immune responses. B cell maturation and Ab responses to Ag
stimulation require Ig somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class-switch recombination (CSR)
for high-affinity responses. Upon immunization with either the model Ag 4-hydroxy-3-
nitrophenylacetyl hapten (NP) conjugated to chicken γ globulin lysine (NP-CGG) or heat-
killed Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular type 14 protein (Pn14), knock-in (KI) mice …
Abstract
Generation of high-affinity Abs in response to Ags/infectious agents is essential for developing long-lasting immune responses. B cell maturation and Ab responses to Ag stimulation require Ig somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class-switch recombination (CSR) for high-affinity responses. Upon immunization with either the model Ag 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetyl hapten (NP) conjugated to chicken γ globulin lysine (NP-CGG) or heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular type 14 protein (Pn14), knock-in (KI) mice hypomorphic for mTOR function had a decreased ability to form germinal centers, develop high-affinity anti-NP–specific or anti-Pn14–specific Abs, and perform SHM/CSR. Hypomorphic mTOR mice also had a high mortality (40%) compared with wild-type (WT)(0%) littermates and had lower pneumococcal surface protein A–specific Ab titers when immunized and challenged with live S. pneumoniae infection. Mice with mTOR deleted in their B cell lineage (knockout [KO]) also produced fewer splenic germinal centers and decreased high-affinity Ab responses to NP-CGG than did their WT littermates. CSR rates were lower in mTOR KI and KO mice, and pharmacologic inhibition of mTOR in WT B cells resulted in decreased rates of ex vivo CSR. RNA and protein levels of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), a protein essential for SHM and CSR, were lower in B cells from both KI and B cell–specific KO mice, concomitant with increases in phosphorylated AKT and FOXO1. Rescue experiments increasing AID expression in KI B cells restored CSR levels to those in WT B cells. Thus, mTOR plays an important immunoregulatory role in the germinal center, at least partially through AID signaling, in generating high-affinity Abs.
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