title: Suppressive functions of B cells in infectious diseases.
abstract: B lymphocytes are often essential to successfully control invading pathogens and play a primary role in the protection afforded by successful vaccines through the production of specific antibodies. However, recent studies have highlighted the complex roles of B cells in infectious diseases, showing unexpectedly that some activated B cells limited host defense towards pathogens. This B-cell function involves production of regulatory cytokines including IL-10 and IL-35 and is reminiscent of the regulatory functions of B cells initially defined in autoimmune diseases. It is now known that various types of microbes including bacteria, helminths and viruses can induce IL-10-expressing B cells with inhibitory functions, indicating that this response is a general component of anti-microbial immunity. Interestingly, IL-10-producing B cells induced in the course of some microbial infections can inhibit concurrent immune responses directed towards unrelated antigens in a bystander manner and as a consequence ameliorate the course of autoimmune or allergic diseases. This could explain how some micro-organisms might provide protection from these pathologies, as formulated in the 'hygiene hypothesis'. In this review, we discuss the regulatory functions of B cells in bacterial, parasitic and viral infections, taking into account the phenotype of the B cells implicated, the signals controlling their induction and the cell types targeted by their suppressive activities.
authors.affiliation: Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, a Leibniz Institute, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, a Leibniz Institute, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany fillatreau@drfz.de.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fillatreau
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D024201:Bystander Effect / Q000276:immunology; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000276:immunology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D007378:Interleukins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: C508609:IL10 protein, human; D007378:Interleukins; C532417:interleukin-35, human; D016753:Interleukin-10
keywords: B cells; IL-10; IL-35; autoimmunity; infection