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* Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, New South Wales, Australia;
Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and
Garvan Institute of Medical Research, New South Wales, Australia
Although recent studies indicated that IL-21 is an important regulator of human B cell activation, detailed comparison of the effects of IL-21 on distinct B cell subsets have not been performed. Our studies revealed that IL-21R is expressed by naive and germinal center B cells, but not memory or plasma cells. IL-21R was increased on naive and memory B cells following in vitro activation. Investigation into the kinetics and magnitude of responses of human B cells to IL-21 revealed that IL-21 potently augmented proliferation of CD40L-stimulated neonatal, splenic naive, and memory and tonsil germinal center B cells. This response exceeded that induced by IL-4, IL-10, and IL-13, cytokines that also induce B cell proliferation. Remarkably, CD40L/IL-21-stimulated naive B cells underwent the same number of divisions as memory cells and exhibited a greater enhancement in their response compared with CD40L alone than memory B cells. Therefore, IL-21 is a powerful growth factor for naive B cells. This may result from the higher expression of IL-21R on naive, compared with memory, B cells. Stimulation of human B cells with CD40L/IL-21 also induced IL-10 production and activation of STAT3. We propose that IL-21 may have therapeutic application in conditions of immunodeficiency where it could expand naive B cells, the predominant B cell subset in such patients. Conversely, because IL-21 is increased in murine models of lupus, dysregulated IL-21 production may contribute to perturbed B cell homeostasis observed in systemic lupus erythematosus. Thus, antagonizing IL-21 may be a novel strategy for treating Ab-mediated autoimmune diseases.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 This work was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia and the Cancer Institute NSW. K.L.G. and V.L.B. are recipients of Postgraduate Research Awards from the University of Sydney. K.L.G. is the recipient of a Cancer Institute New South Wales Research Scholar Award. S.G.T. is the recipient of an R. D. Wright Career Development Award from the NHMRC of Australia.
2 Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Stuart G. Tangye, Immunology and Inflammation Department, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst 2010, New South Wales, Australia. E-mail address: s.tangye{at}garvan.org.au
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: GC, germinal center, PC, plasma cell; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; TD, T dependent; TI, T independent;
c, common
chain; TFH, T follicular helper; CB, cord blood; ttfd, time-to-first division; MNC, mononuclear cell; SA, streptavidin; sq-PCR, semiquantitative PCR; rh, recombinant human; B-CLL, B-chronic lymphocytic leukemic; MFI, mean fluorescence intensity; PB, peripheral blood.
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