title: T helper cell-independent neutralizing B cell response against vesicular stomatitis virus: role of antigen patterns in B cell induction?
abstract: The neutralizing antibody response against vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was studied to analyze conditions necessary for induction of mature B cells. The glycoprotein of VSV (VSV-G) is expressed as repetitive epitopes that are in a rigid densely packed paracristalline form in the virus envelope; in contrast, VSV-G is present in a mobile randomly ordered form on infected cells and in micelles. We found that the rigid, paracristalline form of VSV-G spaced about 5-10 mm on VSV virons induced potent primary and secondary neutralizing B cell responses which were independent of T helper cells, whereas the more randomly distributed, mobile forms of VSV-G induced primary and secondary B cell responses that were more tightly controlled by T helper cells. These data suggest that (i) cross-linking is a critical signal for B cell activation and antibody production, and that this signal alone does not necessarily anergize or delete mature B cells, (ii) the more regularly and rigidly ordered in a distance of 5-10 nm repetitive identical antigenic determinants are, the less are primary and secondary B cell responses controlled by T cells. We therefore propose that B cells take antigen organization as a marker for foreigness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hengartner
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Zinkernagel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000955:Antigens, T-Independent / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000276:immunology; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D008819:Mice, Nude; D016513:Mice, SCID; D009500:Neutralization Tests; D011487:Protein Conformation; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*; D014721:Vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus / Q000276:immunology*; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000955:Antigens, T-Independent; D000956:Antigens, Viral; C028391:G protein, vesicular stomatitis virus; D006023:Glycoproteins; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins