Distinct role of surface lymphotoxin expressed by B cells in the organization of secondary lymphoid tissues.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2002

Keywords

Animal, B-Lymphocytes, Chemokines, Dendritic-Cells-Follicular, Erythrocytes, Genes-RAG-1, Immunoglobulin-G, Lymph-Nodes, Lymphoid-Tissue, Lymphotoxin, Membrane-Proteins, Mice, Mice-Inbred-C57BL, Mice-Knockout, Mice-SCID, Peyer's-Patches, Sheep, Spleen, SUPPORT-NON-U-S-GOVT, SUPPORT-U-S-GOVT-P-H-S, Tetradecanoylphorbol-Acetate

First Page

239

Last Page

250

JAX Source

Immunity 2002 Sep; 17:239-50.

Grant

CA65795/CA/NCI, N01-CO-12400/CO/NCI

Abstract

In order to definitively ascertain the functional contribution of lymphotoxin (LT) expressed by B cells, we produced mice with the LTbeta gene deleted from B cells (B-LTbeta KO mice). In contrast to systemic LTbeta deletion, in B-LTbeta KO mice only splenic microarchitecture was affected, while lymph nodes and Peyer's patches (PP) were normal, except for PP's reduced size. Even though B-LTbeta KO spleens retained a small number of follicular dendritic cells (FDC) which appeared to be dependent on LTbeta produced by T cells, IgG responses to sheep red blood cells were markedly reduced. Thus, the organogenic function of B-LTbeta is almost entirely restricted to spleen, where it supports the correct lymphoid architecture that is critical for an effective humoral immune response.

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