Prognostic Value of Immune Profiling Multiple Myeloma Patients during Minimal Residual Disease Monitoring in the Pethema/GEM2010MAS65 Study

Blood ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 126 (23) ◽  
pp. 721-721 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Arana ◽  
Bruno Paiva ◽  
Noemi Puig ◽  
Teresa Cedena ◽  
Lourdes Cordon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Myeloma ◽  
B Cells ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
B Cell ◽  
Binding Site ◽  
Residual Disease ◽  
Prolonged Survival ◽  
Immune Signature ◽  
Immune Profiling

Abstract Introduction: Although in multiple myeloma (MM) failure to attain deep remissions after therapy typically limits the chances of long-term survival, such paradigm does not apply to all patients since a fraction of patients with persistent disease may be progression-free for more than 10-years even without continuous treatment. Accordingly, it could be hypothesized that prolonged survival in such patients is related to their immune surveillance in controlling detectable (MRD-positive) or undetectable (MRD-negative) residual disease. Unfortunately, while the immune impairment in newly-diagnosed MM as well as the presence of unique immune profiles among patients attaining long-term disease control have been described, no studies have been performed after therapy, during MRD monitoring, to develop an immune signature capable to predict patients' outcome. Methods: We have investigated the immune signature of 146 elderly patients enrolled in the GEM2010MAS65 clinical trial after therapy, during MRD monitoring. Briefly, patients were treated with sequential chemotherapy with 9 cycles of bortezomib-melphalan-prednisone (VMP) followed by 9 cycles of lenalidomide-low dose dexamethasone (Rd) (n=72), or alternating cycles of VMP and Rd up to 18 cycles (n=74). A single 8-color antibody combination (CD45-PacB/CD138-OC515/CD38-FITC/CD56-PE/CD27-PerCPCy5.5/CD19-PECy7/CD117-APC/CD81-APCH7) was used to monitor MRD, and allowed for the enumeration of not only normal and clonal plasma cells, but also erythroid and myeloid hematopoietic progenitors, erythroblasts, mast cells, eosinophils, basophils, monocytes, neutrophils, B-cells and their respective precursor, naïve and memory subsets, as well as T-cells plus TNK- and NK-cells. Median follow-up of the series was 3-years; time-to-progression (TTP) and overall survival (OS) were measured from diagnosis. Results: Principal component analysis (PCA) based on the bone marrow distribution of the 13 immune cell populations revealed the presence of 3 clusters (Panel 1): A (n=16), B (n=117) and C (n=13). When comparing cluster A with clusters B and C, there was a decrease in mean values of erythroblasts (25%, 15% and 13%; P=.03) combined with a trend for increased neutrophils (52%, 59% and 60%; P=.07). The distribution of different maturation subsets within the B-cell compartment was also significantly altered between clusters C and B vs. A, with decreased numbers of B-cell precursors (4%, 0.6% and 1%; P<.001) but increased frequencies of naïve (0.1%, 0.09% and 0.5%; P<.001) and antigen-experienced memory (0.05%, 0.03% and 0.3%; P=.006) B-cells (Panel 2). There were no significant differences in cluster frequency according to treatment schema, nor according to baseline ISS or FISH risk-stratification. Most interestingly though, particularly when compared to cluster C, patients clustering in group A had a trend toward superior TTP (median of 44 vs 35 months, respectively; P=.08) and significantly superior OS (3-year rates of 77 vs 100%, respectively; P=.02); patients belonging to cluster B had intermediate outcome (median TTP of 37 months and 82% 3-year OS rate) (Panels 3 and 4). Noteworthy, there were no significant differences according to patients' MRD status across the different clusters; accordingly, even among MRD-positive patients immune profiling continued to impact patients survival with 3-year OS rates of 62%, 77% and 100% for clusters C, B and A, respectively (P=.02). Conclusions: We showed for the first time that immune profiling in MM after therapy during MRD monitoring is prognostically relevant and allows the identification of patients with either poor survival or sustained disease control. Accordingly, flow-based MRD monitoring offers complementary information to quantification of MRD levels, and may contribute to identify patients that albeit being MRD-positive can still experience prolonged survival due to a unique immune signature particularly characterized by increased peripheral B-cell maturation. Figure 1. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 3. Disclosures Paiva: BD Bioscience: Consultancy; Binding Site: Consultancy; Onyx: Consultancy; Millenium: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; EngMab AG: Research Funding. Puig:Janssen: Consultancy; The Binding Site: Consultancy. Gironella:Celgene Corporation: Consultancy, Honoraria. Mateos:Janssen-Cilag: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Onyx: Consultancy. San Miguel:Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen-Cilag: Honoraria; Millennium: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Sanofi-Aventis: Honoraria; Onyx: Honoraria.

Multidimensional Flow Cytometric (MFC) Analysis of the Immune System of Multiple Myeloma (MM) Patients Achieving Long Term Disease Control

Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 810-810
Author(s):  
Roberto J. Pessoa Magalhaes ◽  
María-Belén Vidriales ◽  
Bruno Paiva ◽  
Maria-Victoria Mateos ◽  
Norma C. Gutierrez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cells ◽  
Immune System ◽  
B Cells ◽  
Disease Control ◽  
B Cell ◽  
Nk Cells ◽  
Cell Populations ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Newly Diagnosed

Abstract Abstract 810FN2 Increasing evidence shows that a small fraction of MM patients (pts) treated with high-dose therapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation achieve long-term remission. Interestingly, this is not restricted to pts in complete response (CR), since those that revert to a monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) profile may also achieve long-term remission, despite the persistence of residual myeloma plasma cells (PCs). These results suggest that in addition to the anti-myeloma therapy, other factors may play a role in the control of the disease. Herein, we used 8-color MFC for detailed characterization of the structural components of the immune system and hematopoietic precursor cells (HPC) in paired bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples from 26 MM patients in long-term disease control (LTDC): 9 in continuous CR and 17 who reverted to an MGUS profile and that subsequently showed stable disease without treatment for ≥5 years (median of 9 years; range, 5–19). As controls, paired BM and PB samples from 23 newly-diagnosed MGUS and 16 MM pts, together with 10 healthy adults (HA), were studied in parallel. In all BM and PB samples the distribution of the major T- (CD4, CD8, Tregs and γδ), NK- (CD56dim and CD56bright) and B-cell subsets (Pro-B, Pre-B, naïve and memory), in addition to normal PCs, dendritic cell (DC) subsets (plasmacytoid, myeloid and monocytic), monocytes, and CD34+ HPC (myeloid and lymphoid), were studied. The percentage and absolute count of each cell population was analysed in the BM and PB, respectively. Comparison of the two groups of MM pts with LTDC (9 CR vs. 17 MGUS-like) showed similar (p>.05) cellular profiles in PB and BM, except for an increased number of BM and PB normal PCs in CR patients (P≤.04). Consequently, for all subsequent analyses, LTDC myeloma pts were pooled together. When compared to HA, patients with LTDC had increased numbers of CD8 T-cells and CD56dim NK-cells in both the BM and PB (p≤.03 and p≤.01, respectively). Despite this, the distribution of BM and PB CD4, CD8 and γδ T-cells among LTDC patients was similar (p>.05) to that of both newly-diagnosed MM and MGUS cases; in contrast, BM and PB Tregs were significantly decreased vs newly-diagnosed MM (P=.03) and MGUS (P=.04). Regarding B-cells and normal PCs, LTDC patients showed increased numbers of BM B-cell precursors (both Pro-B and Pre-B cells) and normal PCs vs. newly diagnosed MM (P≤.05), but not MGUS, together with increased numbers of naïve B-cells vs. both MM and MGUS pts (P≤.01); all such cell populations returned to levels similar (p>.05) to those of HA. As expected, this also included the number of CD34+ B-cell HPC which was increased among patients who achieved LTDC vs MM (p=.02), at levels similar (p>.05) to those of MGUS and HA. Regarding DC, LTDC patients showed normal DC numbers in PB (but with higher PB myeloid-DC numbers vs. MM; p=.02), in association with decreased numbers of plasmacytoid DC and increased monocytic-DC in the BM vs. HA (p≤.04). No differences were found for the numbers of BM and PB monocytes. In summary, here we investigated for the first time the immune cell profile of MM patients who achieve long-term disease control. Our results show that, as newly-diagnosed MM, patients that achieve long-term disease control also show increased numbers of cytotoxic T-cells and CD56dim NK-cells; however, in contrast to newly-diagnosed MM, among LTDC patients such increase is associated with lower numbers of T-regs and an almost complete recovery of the normal PC, B-cell precursor and naïve B-cell compartments both in BM and PB. Further investigations on the activation and functional status of these cell populations are warranted.MO (%)/SP (cels./μl)HA N= 10MGUS N= 23MM N= 16LTDC-MM N= 26T cells9.588110.6117313113711926    CD4+4.85004.6624^6*5085463    CD8+3.7∼216∼4.63865.32645.3431    TCR γδ.2426.3230.2428.3421    Treg.4137.4141^.54*38.3432NK cells.7∼87∼1.51982.11721.6212    CD56 dim.65∼79∼1.41922.21681.6202B cells2.81471.8104.97*68*1.9160    Pro B.11—.06—.02*—.07—    Pre B.6—.4—.08—.23—    Naive SP—80—57^—36*—118    Normal-PCS.18.9.11.7.008.72*.11.84DCs.3449.3653.6848.558    Monocytes2.22472.42853.43023.1315    m-DC SP—11—14—8*—12    MO-DC.11∼29.2036.434.2837    p-DC.2∼4.1.145.112.8.123.8CD34+.9∼1.46.61.1.261.4.431.4    Mie-HPC.8∼—.53—.26—.36—    Linfo-HPC.1—.07—.03*—.05—*p≤.05 LTDC vs MM: ^ p≤.05 LTDC vs MGUS; ∼ p≤.05 LTDC vs HA Disclosures: Paiva: Jansen-Cillag: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Martinez:Janssen: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Maiolino:Centocor Ortho Biotech Research & Development: Research Funding.

IGH Repertoire Analysis In Multiple Myeloma (MM): Lack of Intra-Disease Homology and Occasional Clustering with Sequences of Other B-Cell Neoplasms Sharing Identical Geographical Origin

Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 2951-2951
Author(s):  
Simone Ferrero ◽  
Daniela Capello ◽  
Mirija Svaldi ◽  
Daniela Drandi ◽  
Michela Boi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Myeloma ◽  
B Cells ◽  
B Cell ◽  
B Lymphocyte ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Residual Disease ◽  
Somatic Hypermutation ◽  
Cell Repertoire ◽  
Non Hodgkin Lymphoma ◽  
B Cell Subsets

Abstract Abstract 2951 Background: The identification of stereotyped immunoglobulin (IG) receptors has improved our knowledge on the pathogenesis of several B-cell malignancies, suggesting the role of antigen-driven stimulation in chronic lymphocitic leukemia (CLL), marginal-zone lymphoma (MZL) and mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL). Multiple myeloma (MM) is a terminally-differentiated neoplasm no longer expressing surface IG; however some reports suggest the existence of early B-lymphocyte precursors which could be susceptible to antigen-driven stimulation. IG heavy chain (IGH) repertoire has not been extensively investigated in MM, with the largest available reports containing less than 80 complete sequences. Aims: To address this issue we created a database of MM IGH sequences including our institutional records (mostly derived from minimal residual disease studies) and sequences available from the literature. We planned a two-step analysis: a) first we characterized the MM repertoire and performed intra-MM clustering analysis; b) then we compared our MM series to a large public database of IGH sequences from neoplastic and non-neoplastic B-cells in search of similarities between MM sequences and other normal or neoplastic IGH repertoires. Patients and methods: 131 MM IGH genes were amplified and sequenced at our Institutions and belonged to Italian patients, while 214 MM IGH sequences from non-Italian patients were derived from published databases (NCBI-EMBL-IMGT/LIGM-DB) for a total of 345 fully interpretable MM sequences (out of 396). 28590 IGH sequences from other malignant and non-malignant B-cells were retrieved from the same public databases, including approximately 4500 CLL/Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) sequences and comprising 500 sequences from Italian patients. All sequences were analyzed using the IMGT database and tools (Lefranc et al., Nucleic Acid Res. 2005; http://imgt.cines.fr/) to identify IGHV-D-J gene usage, to assess the somatic hypermutation (SHM) rate and to identify HCDR3. HCDR3 aminoacidic sequences were aligned together using the ClustalX 2.0 software (Larkin et al., Bioinformatics, 2007; http://www.clustal.org/). Subsets of stereotyped IGH receptors were defined according to Stamatopoulos et al. (Blood, 2007). Result: IGHV analysis in MM was almost in keeping with the normal B-cell repertoire, showing a less remarkably biased IGH usage compared to CLL, MCL and MZL (with seven genes accounting for 40% of cases, compared to respectively five, three and two genes). However, a modest but significant over-representation of IGHV1-69, 2–5, 2–70, 3–21, 3–30-3, 3–43, 5–51 and 6-1 genes and under-representation of the IGHV1-18, 1–8, 3–30, 3–53 and 4–34 was noticed. The rate of somatic hypermutation in MM followed a Gaussian distribution with a median value of 7.8%. Intra-MM search for HCDR3 similarities never met minimal requirements for stereotyped receptors. When MM sequences were compared to non-MM database, only a minority of MM sequences (2.6%, n=9) clustered with sequences from lymphoid tumors and normal B-cells (figure 1A). In particular two non-Italian MM sequences clustered with previously characterized, uncommon CLL subsets (n.37 and n.71 according to Murray et al., Blood 2008). Moreover, novel provisional clusters were observed including three MM-CLL subsets, one MM-NHL subset, and three MM-normal B-cell subsets. While the MM-normal B-cell clusters involved non-Italian patients, we unexpectedly noticed that the four MM-CLL/MM-NHL clusters were composed exclusively of Italian patients, as shown in figure 1B, although Italian subjects represented less than 12% of the entire CLL-NHL database. Conclusion: The analysis of the largest currently available database of MM IGH sequences indicates the following: 1) MM IGH repertoire is closer to physiological distribution than that of CLL, MCL and MZL; 2) MM specific clusters do not occur to a frequency detectable with currently available databases; 3) 98% of MM sequences are not related to other “highly-clustered” lymphoproliferative disorders; 4) Uncommon clustering phenomena may follow a geographical rather than a disease-related pattern. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

scholarly journals Long-Term Survival and Gradual Recovery of B Cells in Patients (Pts) with Refractory Large B Cell Lymphoma (LBCL) Treated with Axicabtagene Ciloleucel (Axi-Cel)

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. S404-S405
Author(s):  
Caron A. Jacobson ◽  
Frederick L. Locke ◽  
Armin Ghobadi ◽  
David B. Miklos ◽  
Lazaros J. Lekakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
B Cells ◽  
B Cell ◽  
Cell Lymphoma ◽  
B Cell Lymphoma ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Long Term Survival ◽  
Large B Cell Lymphoma ◽  
Large B Cell

B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Arising in Patients with a Preexisting Diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma Is a Novel Cancer with High Incidence of TP53 Mutations

Blood ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 20-20
Author(s):  
Monique Chavez ◽  
Erica Barnell ◽  
Malachi Griffith ◽  
Zachary Skidmore ◽  
Obi Griffith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Myeloma ◽  
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia ◽  
B Cells ◽  
B Cell ◽  
Mechanism Of Action ◽  
Lymphoblastic Leukemia ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Hematopoietic Stem ◽  
Tp53 Mutations ◽  
Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a malignancy of plasma cells that affects over 30,000 Americans every year. Despite advances in the treatment of the disease, approximately 12,000 American patients will still die of MM in 2019. One of the mainstays of treatment for MM is the immunomodulatory and antiangiogenic drug lenalidomide; which is used in induction therapy, maintenance therapy and treatment of relapsed disease. Although not fully elucidated, lenalidomide's mechanism of action in MM involves the drug binding to Cerebelon (CBN) and leads to the subsequent degradation of the Ikaros (IKZF1) and Aiolos (IKZF3) transcription factors (TF). These TFs play important regulatory roles in lymphocyte development. Despite lenalidomide's importance in MM treatment, several groups have reported that MM patients treated with lenalidomide rarely go on to develop B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). The genetics and clonal relationship between the MM and subsequent B-ALL have not been previously defined. Importantly, it is not clear if the MM and B-ALL arise from the same founding clone that has been under selective pressure during lenalidomide treatment. As deletions in IKZF1 are common in B-ALL, one could hypothesize that lenalidomide's mechanism of action mimics this alteration and contributes to leukemogenesis. We sequenced the tumors from a cohort of seven patients with MM treated with lenalidomide who later developed B-ALL. These data did not show any mutational overlap between the MM and ALL samples-the tumors arose from different founding clones in each case. However, several genes were recurrently mutated in the B-ALL samples across the seven patients. These genes included TP53, ZFP36L2, KIR3DL2, RNASE-L, and TERT. Strikingly, five of the seven patients had a TP53 mutations in the B-ALL sample that was not present in the matched MM sample. The frequency of TP53 mutations in our cohort was much higher than that reported in adult de novo B-ALL patients which can range between 4.1-6.4% (Hernández-Rivas et al. 2017 and Foa et al. 2013). Utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, we disrupted the Zfp36l2 or Actb in murine hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) of mice with or without loss of Trp53. We performed our first transplantation experiment in which the cohorts of mice have loss of Trp53 alone, loss of Zfp36l2 alone, loss of both Trp53 and Zfp36l2, or a control knockout (KO) of Actb. To characterize the disruption of Zfp36l2 alone and in combination with Trp53 we analyzed the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell compartments in the bone marrow of the above transplanted mice. In mice with a loss of Zfp36l2 there is a decrease in Lin- Sca-1+ c-Kit+ (LSK), short term-HSC (ST-HSC), and multipotent progenitors (MPP). This decrease was not observed in the mice with a loss of both Trp53 and Zfp36l2, where instead we noted an increase in monocyte progenitors (MP), granulocytes-macrophage progenitors (GMP), and common myeloid progenitors (CMP) cells. In this Trp53 Zfp36l2 double loss model we also noted a decrease in B220+ B-cells that was not seen in the Zfp36l2 alone. In this cohort of Trp53 Zfp36l2 loss, we characterized B-cell development through hardy fraction flow cytometry, and identified a decrease in fractions A and B/C (pre-pro and pro-B-cells, respectively) as compared to Zfp36l2 or Actb alone. As lenalidomide does not bind to Cbn in mice, we used the human B-ALL NALM6 cell line to test if treatment with lenalidomide will lead to a selective growth advantage of cells with the same genes knocked out versus wild-type control cells grown in the same culture. We hypothesize that lenalidomide treatment selectively enriched for pre-existing mutated cell clones that evolved into the B-ALL. Preliminary data in NALM6 cells with a loss of TP53 demonstrate a slight increase in cell number at day 7 compared to a RELA control. These experiments will be repeated with concurrent ZFP36L2 and TP53 mutations as well as ZFP36L2 alone. Treatment-related disease is a key consideration when deciding between different treatment options, and this project aims to understand the relationship between MM treatment and B-ALL occurrence. It may be possible to identify MM patients who are at-risk for B-ALL. For example, MM patients who harbor low-level TP53 mutations prior to lenalidomide treatment could be offered alternative treatment options. Disclosures Barnell: Geneoscopy Inc: Current Employment, Current equity holder in private company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Wartman:Novartis: Consultancy; Incyte: Consultancy.

scholarly journals B cell–intrinsic TLR signals amplify but are not required for humoral immunity

2007 ◽  
Vol 204 (13) ◽  
pp. 3095-3101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almut Meyer-Bahlburg ◽  
Socheath Khim ◽  
David J. Rawlings
Keyword(s):  
B Cells ◽  
B Cell ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Altered Expression ◽  
Intrinsic Signals ◽  
Antibody Titers ◽  
Specific Igg ◽  
B Cell Subsets

Although innate signals driven by Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a crucial role in T-dependent immune responses and serological memory, the precise cellular and time-dependent requirements for such signals remain poorly defined. To directly address the role for B cell–intrinsic TLR signals in these events, we compared the TLR response profile of germinal center (GC) versus naive mature B cell subsets. TLR responsiveness was markedly up-regulated during the GC reaction, and this change correlated with altered expression of the key adaptors MyD88, Mal, and IRAK-M. To assess the role for B cell–intrinsic signals in vivo, we transferred MyD88 wild-type or knockout B cells into B cell–deficient μMT mice and immunized recipient animals with 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetyl (NP) chicken gamma globulin. All recipients exhibited similar increases in NP-specific antibody titers during primary, secondary, and long-term memory responses. The addition of lipopolysaccharide to the immunogen enhanced B cell-intrinsic, MyD88-dependent NP-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)M production, whereas NP-specific IgG increased independently of TLR signaling in B cells. Our data demonstrate that B cell–intrinsic TLR responses are up-regulated during the GC reaction, and that this change significantly promotes antigen-specific IgM production in association with TLR ligands. However, B cell–intrinsic TLR signals are not required for antibody production or maintenance.

scholarly journals Diversity of Functionally Distinct Clonal Sets of Human Conventional Memory B Cells That Bind Staphylococcal Protein A

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily E. Radke ◽  
Zhi Li ◽  
David N. Hernandez ◽  
Hanane El Bannoudi ◽  
Sergei L. Kosakovsky Pond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
B Cells ◽  
B Cell ◽  
Binding Site ◽  
Protein A ◽  
Memory B Cells ◽  
Host Immune System ◽  
Staphylococcal Protein A ◽  
Staphylococcal Protein ◽  
Circulating Antibodies

Staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of serious and often fatal infections, is well-armed with secreted factors that disarm host immune defenses. Highly expressed in vivo during infection, Staphylococcal protein A (SpA) is reported to also contribute to nasal colonization that can be a prelude to invasive infection. Co-evolution with the host immune system has provided SpA with an Fc-antibody binding site, and a Fab-binding site responsible for non-immune superantigen interactions via germline-encoded surfaces expressed on many human BCRs. We wondered whether the recurrent exposures to S. aureus commonly experienced by adults, result in the accumulation of memory B-cell responses to other determinants on SpA. We therefore isolated SpA-specific class-switched memory B cells, and characterized their encoding VH : VL antibody genes. In SpA-reactive memory B cells, we confirmed a striking bias in usage for VH genes, which retain the surface that mediates the SpA-superantigen interaction. We postulate these interactions reflect co-evolution of the host immune system and SpA, which during infection results in immune recruitment of an extraordinarily high prevalence of B cells in the repertoire that subverts the augmentation of protective defenses. Herein, we provide the first evidence that human memory responses are supplemented by B-cell clones, and circulating-antibodies, that bind to SpA determinants independent of the non-immune Fc- and Fab-binding sites. In parallel, we demonstrate that healthy individuals, and patients recovering from S. aureus infection, both have circulating antibodies with these conventional binding specificities. These findings rationalize the potential utility of incorporating specially engineered SpA proteins into a protective vaccine.

scholarly journals Antigen-Specific B Cell Memory

2000 ◽  
Vol 191 (7) ◽  
pp. 1149-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise J. McHeyzer-Williams ◽  
Melinda Cool ◽  
Michael G. McHeyzer-Williams
Keyword(s):  
Bone Marrow ◽  
B Cells ◽  
B Cell ◽  
Memory B Cells ◽  
Cell Memory ◽  
Specific Memory ◽  
B Cell Memory ◽  
Cellular Components

The mechanisms that regulate B cell memory and the rapid recall response to antigen remain poorly defined. This study focuses on the rapid expression of B cell memory upon antigen recall in vivo, and the replenishment of quiescent B cell memory that follows. Based on expression of CD138 and B220, we reveal a unique and major subtype of antigen-specific memory B cells (B220−CD138−) that are distinct from antibody-secreting B cells (B220+/−CD138+) and B220+CD138− memory B cells. These nonsecreting somatically mutated B220− memory responders rapidly dominate the splenic response and comprise &gt;95% of antigen-specific memory B cells that migrate to the bone marrow. By day 42 after recall, the predominant quiescent memory B cell population in the spleen (75–85%) and the bone marrow (&gt;95%) expresses the B220− phenotype. Upon adoptive transfer, B220− memory B cells proliferate to a lesser degree but produce greater amounts of antibody than their B220+ counterparts. The pattern of cellular differentiation after transfer indicates that B220− memory B cells act as stable self-replenishing intermediates that arise from B220+ memory B cells and produce antibody-secreting cells on rechallenge with antigen. Cell surface phenotype and Ig isotype expression divide the B220− compartment into two main subsets with distinct patterns of integrin and coreceptor expression. Thus, we identify new cellular components of B cell memory and propose a model for long-term protective immunity that is regulated by a complex balance of committed memory B cells with subspecialized immune function.

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