title: B cell subsets are modulated during allergic airway inflammation but are not required for the development of respiratory tolerance in a murine model.
abstract: Allergic asthma is a widespread chronic inflammatory disease of the airways. The role of different B cell subsets in developing asthma and respiratory tolerance is not well known. Especially regulatory B (Breg) cells are proposed to be important in asthma regulation. Using wild-type (WT) and B cell-deficient (μMT) mice we investigated how B cells are affected by induction of allergic airway inflammation and respiratory tolerance and whether they are necessary to develop these conditions. WT mice with an asthma-like phenotype, characterized by increased airway hyper reactivity, eosinophilic airway inflammation, mucus hypersecretion and elevated Th2 cytokines, exhibited increased MHCII and CD23 expression on follicular mature B cells in lung, bronchial lymph nodes (bLN) and spleen, which contributed to allergen-specific T cell proliferation in vitro. Germinal center B cell numbers were elevated and associated with increased production of allergen-specific immunoglobulins especially in bLN. In contrast, respiratory tolerance clearly attenuated these B cell alterations and directly enhanced marginal zone precursor B cells, which induced regulatory T cells in vitro. However, μMT mice developed asthma-like and tolerized phenotypes like WT mice. Our data indicate that although B cell subsets are affected by asthma-like and respiratory tolerant phenotypes, B cells are not required for tolerance induction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL).
authors.forename: Anika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Habener
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Department of Paediatrics, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Ann-Kathrin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Behrendt
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL).
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skuljec
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL).
authors.forename: Adan Chari
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Jirmo
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL).|Department of Paediatrics, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Almut
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meyer-Bahlburg
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Neonatology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL).
authors.forename: Gesine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hansen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology*; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000502:physiology*; D060151:B-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000502:physiology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000276:immunology*; D017455:Receptors, IgE / Q000378:metabolism; D012130:Respiratory Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology*; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology*; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D017455:Receptors, IgE
keywords: Antibody secreting cells; Asthma; Follicular mature B cells; Marginal zone precursor B cells; Respiratory tolerance