title: Heterogeneous antibody repertoire of marginal zone B cells specific for virus-like particles.
abstract: Marginal zone (MZ) B cells differ from follicular (FO) B cells in their functional, phenotypic and localization properties. It is still unclear whether B cells from the MZ compartment also have distinct or biased BCR specificities, recognizing only a limited number of conserved antigenic structures. To address the complexity of the immune response mounted by marginal zone B cells, we compared the antibody repertoire of murine MZ and FO B cells induced by immunization with two different virus-like particles (VLPs). Antibody sequences isolated from sorted VLP-specific MZ and FO B cells were similar in heavy chain V, D and J gene segment usage. Sequence analysis of CDR3 regions of antibodies from MZ and FO B cells also revealed no consistent difference in N nucleotide additions or CDR3 length. In contrast, somatic hypermutations were reduced in CDR regions of antibodies from MZ B cells compared to those from FO B cells. These results indicate that the response of MZ B cells to VLPs is clonotypically heterogeneous and suggest that the MZ B cell compartment is capable of generating variable and diverse antibody responses.
authors.affiliation: Cytos Biotechnology AG, Wagistrasse 25, CH-8952 Zurich-Schlieren, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gatto
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: Stephen W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Martin F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Bachmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000916:Antibody Diversity; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions; D005260:Female; D050438:Genes, Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain / Q000235:genetics; D007114:Immunization; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D027041:Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin; D014771:Virion / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D022801:Complementarity Determining Regions; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region