Human anti-smallpox long-lived memory B cells are defined by dynamic interactions in the splenic niche and long-lasting germinal center imprinting.

Memory B cells (MBCs) can persist for a lifetime, but the mechanisms that allow their long-term survival remain poorly understood. Here, we isolated and analyzed human splenic smallpox/vaccinia protein B5-specific MBCs in individuals who were vaccinated more than 40 years ago. Only a handful of clones persisted over such an extended period, and they displayed limited intra-clonal diversity with signs of extensive affinity-based selection. These long-lived MBCs appeared enriched in a CD21hiCD20hi IgG+ splenic B cell subset displaying a marginal-zone-like NOTCH/MYC-driven signature, but they did not harbor a unique longevity-associated transcriptional or metabolic profile. Finally, the telomeres of B5-specific, long-lived MBCs were longer than those in patient-paired naive B cells in all the samples analyzed. Overall, these results imply that separate mechanisms such as early telomere elongation, affinity selection during the contraction phase, and access to a specific niche contribute to ensuring the functional longevity of MBCs.

Multiple layers of B cell memory with different effector functions.

Memory B cells are at the center of longstanding controversies regarding the presence of antigen for their survival and their re-engagement in germinal centers after secondary challenge. Using a new mouse model of memory B cell labeling dependent on the cytidine deaminase AID, we show that after immunization with a particulate antigen, B cell memory appeared in several subsets, comprising clusters of immunoglobulin M-positive (IgM(+)) and IgG1(+) B cells in germinal center-like structures that persisted up to 8 months after immunization, as well as IgM(+) and IgG1(+) B cells with a memory phenotype outside of B cell follicles. After challenge, the IgG subset differentiated into plasmocytes, whereas the IgM subset reinitiated a germinal center reaction. This model, in which B cell memory appears in several layers with different functions, reconciles previous conflicting propositions.

Inactivation of cytidine triphosphate synthase 1 prevents fatal auto-immunity in mice.

De novo synthesis of the pyrimidine, cytidine triphosphate (CTP), is crucial for DNA/RNA metabolism and depends on the CTP synthetases, CTPS1 and -2. Partial CTPS1 deficiency in humans has previously been shown to lead to immunodeficiency, with impaired expansion of T and B cells. Here, we examine the effects of conditional and inducible inactivation of Ctps1 and/or Ctps2 on mouse embryonic development and immunity. We report that deletion of Ctps1, but not Ctps2, is embryonic-lethal. Tissue and cells with high proliferation and renewal rates, such as intestinal epithelium, erythroid and thymic lineages, activated B and T lymphocytes, and memory T cells strongly rely on CTPS1 for their maintenance and growth. However, both CTPS1 and CTPS2 are required for T cell proliferation following TCR stimulation. Deletion of Ctps1 in T cells or treatment with a CTPS1 inhibitor rescued Foxp3-deficient mice from fatal systemic autoimmunity and reduced the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. These findings support that CTPS1 may represent a target for immune suppression.

Germinal center output is sustained by HELLS-dependent DNA-methylation-maintenance in B cells.

HELLS/LSH (Helicase, Lymphoid Specific) is a SNF2-like chromatin remodelling protein involved in DNA methylation. Its loss-of-function in humans causes humoral immunodeficiency, called ICF4 syndrome (Immunodeficiency, Centromeric Instability, Facial anomalies). Here we show by our newly generated B-cell-specific Hells conditional knockout mouse model that HELLS plays a pivotal role in T-dependent B-cell responses. HELLS deficiency induces accelerated decay of germinal center (GC) B cells and impairs the generation of high affinity memory B cells and circulating antibodies. Mutant GC B cells undergo dramatic DNA hypomethylation and massive de-repression of evolutionary recent retrotransposons, which surprisingly does not directly affect their survival. Instead, they prematurely upregulate either memory B cell markers or the transcription factor ATF4, which is driving an mTORC1-dependent metabolic program typical of plasma cells. Treatment of wild type mice with a DNMT1-specific inhibitor phenocopies the accelerated kinetics, thus pointing towards DNA-methylation maintenance by HELLS being a crucial mechanism to fine-tune the GC transcriptional program and enable long-lasting humoral immunity.

Rituximab-resistant splenic memory B cells and newly engaged naive B cells fuel relapses in patients with immune thrombocytopenia.

Rituximab (RTX), an antibody targeting CD20, is widely used as a first-line therapeutic strategy in B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. However, a large proportion of patients either do not respond to the treatment or relapse during B cell reconstitution. Here, we characterize the cellular basis responsible for disease relapse in secondary lymphoid organs in humans, taking advantage of the opportunity offered by therapeutic splenectomy in patients with relapsing immune thrombocytopenia. By analyzing the B and plasma cell immunoglobulin gene repertoire at bulk and antigen-specific single-cell level, we demonstrate that relapses are associated with two responses coexisting in germinal centers and involving preexisting mutated memory B cells that survived RTX treatment and naive B cells generated upon reconstitution of the B cell compartment. To identify distinctive characteristics of the memory B cells that escaped RTX-mediated depletion, we analyzed RTX refractory patients who did not respond to treatment at the time of B cell depletion. We identified, by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis, a population of quiescent splenic memory B cells that present a unique, yet reversible, RTX-shaped phenotype characterized by down-modulation of B cell-specific factors and expression of prosurvival genes. Our results clearly demonstrate that these RTX-resistant autoreactive memory B cells reactivate as RTX is cleared and give rise to plasma cells and further germinal center reactions. Their continued surface expression of CD19 makes them efficient targets for current anti-CD19 therapies. This study thus identifies a pathogenic contributor to autoimmune diseases that can be targeted by available therapeutic agents.

Conditional knockout of nucleolin in DT40 cells reveals the functional redundancy of its RNA-binding domains.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Nucleolin is a major nucleolar protein which is highly expressed in rapidly dividing cells and cancer cell lines. This protein is claimed to be multifunctional and could play a role in rRNA (ribosomal RNA) synthesis, as well as in cell division or response to cellular stresses. Therefore, how nucleolin influences cell proliferation remained elusive so far. RESULTS: We have generated conditional nucleolin-knockout cells using the chicken B lymphocyte cell line DT40. Our results indicate that nucleolin is absolutely required for the proliferation and for the survival of these cells. Depletion of nucleolin drastically inhibits rDNA (ribosomal DNA) transcription while only slightly affecting pre-rRNA processing. This inhibition is accompanied by modifications of the shape and the structure of the nucleolus. The analysis of mutants of nucleolin, which lack two or three RNA-binding domains, shows that these domains harbour redundant functions and that nucleolin's roles in transcription, rRNA maturation and nucleolar shape can be partially uncoupled. CONCLUSIONS: The function of nucleolin in ribosomal synthesis could account for its effect on cell division and survival, but this vital role does not seem to be linked to sequence-specific RNA binding.

Normal immune system development in mice lacking the Deltex-1 RING finger domain.

The Notch signaling pathway controls several cell fate decisions during lymphocyte development, from T-cell lineage commitment to the peripheral differentiation of B and T lymphocytes. Deltex-1 is a RING finger ubiquitin ligase which is conserved from Drosophila to humans and has been proposed to be a regulator of Notch signaling. Its pattern of lymphoid expression as well as gain-of-function experiments suggest that Deltex-1 regulates both B-cell lineage and splenic marginal-zone B-cell commitment. Deltex-1 was also found to be highly expressed in germinal-center B cells. To investigate the physiological function of Deltex-1, we generated a mouse strain lacking the Deltex-1 RING finger domain, which is essential for its ubiquitin ligase activity. Deltex-1(Delta/Delta) mice were viable and fertile. A detailed histological analysis did not reveal any defects in major organs. T- and B-cell development was normal, as were humoral responses against T-dependent and T-independent antigens. These data indicate that the Deltex-1 ubiquitin ligase activity is dispensable for mouse development and immune function. Possible compensatory mechanisms, in particular those from a fourth Deltex gene identified during the course of this study, are also discussed.

Functions of the histone chaperone nucleolin in diseases.

Alteration of nuclear morphology is often used by pathologist as diagnostic marker for malignancies like cancer. In particular, the staining of cells by the silver staining methods (AgNOR) has been proved to be an important tool for predicting the clinical outcome of some cancer diseases. Two major argyrophilic proteins responsible for the strong staining of cells in interphase are the nucleophosmin (B23) and the nucleolin (C23) nucleolar proteins. Interestingly these two proteins have been described as chromatin associated proteins with histone chaperone activities and also as proteins able to regulate chromatin transcription. Nucleolin seems to be over-expressed in highly proliferative cells and is involved in many aspect of gene expression: chromatin remodeling, DNA recombination and replication, RNA transcription by RNA polymerase I and II, rRNA processing, mRNA stabilisation, cytokinesis and apoptosis. Interestingly, nucleolin is also found on the cell surface in a wide range of cancer cells, a property which is being used as a marker for the diagnosis of cancer and for the development of anti-cancer drugs to inhibit proliferation of cancer cells. In addition to its implication in cancer, nucleolin has been described not only as a marker or as a protein being involved in many diseases like viral infections, autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer's disease pathology but also in drug resistance. In this review we will focus on the chromatin associated functions of nucleolin and discuss the functions of nucleolin or its use as diagnostic marker and as a target for therapy

Inactivation of nucleolin leads to nucleolar disruption, cell cycle arrest and defects in centrosome duplication.

BACKGROUND: Nucleolin is a major component of the nucleolus, but is also found in other cell compartments. This protein is involved in various aspects of ribosome biogenesis from transcription regulation to the assembly of pre-ribosomal particles; however, many reports suggest that it could also play an important role in non nucleolar functions. To explore nucleolin function in cell proliferation and cell cycle regulation we used siRNA to down regulate the expression of nucleolin. RESULTS: We found that, in addition to the expected effects on pre-ribosomal RNA accumulation and nucleolar structure, the absence of nucleolin results in a cell growth arrest, accumulation in G2, and an increase of apoptosis. Numerous nuclear alterations, including the presence of micronuclei, multiple nuclei or large nuclei are also observed. In addition, a large number of mitotic cells showed a defect in the control of centrosome duplication, as indicated by the presence of more than 2 centrosomes per cell associated with a multipolar spindle structure in the absence of nucleolin. This phenotype is very similar to that obtained with the inactivation of another nucleolar protein, B23. CONCLUSION: Our findings uncovered a new role for nucleolin in cell division, and highlight the importance of nucleolar proteins for centrosome duplication.

Pms2 and uracil-DNA glycosylases act jointly in the mismatch repair pathway to generate Ig gene mutations at A-T base pairs.

During somatic hypermutation (SHM) of immunoglobulin genes, uracils introduced by activation-induced cytidine deaminase are processed by uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG) and mismatch repair (MMR) pathways to generate mutations at G-C and A-T base pairs, respectively. Paradoxically, the MMR-nicking complex Pms2/Mlh1 is apparently dispensable for A-T mutagenesis. Thus, how detection of U:G mismatches is translated into the single-strand nick required for error-prone synthesis is an open question. One model proposed that UNG could cooperate with MMR by excising a second uracil in the vicinity of the U:G mismatch, but it failed to explain the low impact of UNG inactivation on A-T mutagenesis. In this study, we show that uracils generated in the G1 phase in B cells can generate equal proportions of A-T and G-C mutations, which suggests that UNG and MMR can operate within the same time frame during SHM. Furthermore, we show that Ung-/-Pms2-/- mice display a 50% reduction in mutations at A-T base pairs and that most remaining mutations at A-T bases depend on two additional uracil glycosylases, thymine-DNA glycosylase and SMUG1. These results demonstrate that Pms2/Mlh1 and multiple uracil glycosylases act jointly, each one with a distinct strand bias, to enlarge the immunoglobulin gene mutation spectrum from G-C to A-T bases.

A single aspartate mutation in the conserved catalytic site of Rev3L generates a hypomorphic phenotype in vivo and in vitro.

Rev3, the catalytic subunit of yeast DNA polymerase ζ, is required for UV resistance and UV-induced mutagenesis, while its mammalian ortholog, REV3L, plays further vital roles in cell proliferation and embryonic development. To assess the contribution of REV3L catalytic activity to its in vivo function, we generated mutant mouse strains in which one or two Ala residues were substituted to the Asp of the invariant catalytic YGDTDS motif. The simultaneous mutation of both Asp (ATA) phenocopies the Rev3l knockout, which proves that the catalytic activity is mandatory for the vital functions of Rev3L, as reported recently. Surprisingly, although the mutation of the first Asp severely impairs the enzymatic activity of other B-family DNA polymerases, the corresponding mutation of Rev3 (ATD) is hypomorphic in yeast and mouse, as it does not affect viability and proliferation and moderately impacts UVC-induced cell death and mutagenesis. Interestingly, Rev3l hypomorphic mutant mice display a distinct, albeit modest, alteration of the immunoglobulin gene mutation spectrum at G-C base pairs, further documenting its role in this process.

Specific over-expression of deltex and a new Kelch-like protein in human germinal center B cells.

Ig gene hypermutation was originally described as the molecular process underlying B cell affinity maturation following a T-dependent immune response. Somatic hypermutation is also used in some species such as sheep, to generate diversity during formation of the primary antibody repertoire. In sheep, B cells mutate their Ig receptor during antigen-independent development in the lymphoid follicles of ileal Peyer's patches, but this process is arrested when these same B cells are cultured in vitro. We have used these differences between in vivo and in vitro B cell development to perform a cDNA subtraction between these two cell populations, in order to search for genes that might be involved in the hypermutation process. We describe in this paper the characterization of two genes, highly expressed in sheep ileal Peyer's patch B cells and also in centroblasts of human tonsils: deltex (Drosophila) homolog 1 (DTX1), which is related to the Notch pathway and a new Kelch-like protein, KLHL6. The putative role of these proteins, which are more likely involved in the germinal center B cell differentiation pathway than in the hypermutation mechanism per se, is discussed.

HACD1, a regulator of membrane composition and fluidity, promotes myoblast fusion and skeletal muscle growth.

The reduced diameter of skeletal myofibres is a hallmark of several congenital myopathies, yet the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, we investigate the role of HACD1/PTPLA, which is involved in the elongation of the very long chain fatty acids, in muscle fibre formation. In humans and dogs, HACD1 deficiency leads to a congenital myopathy with fibre size disproportion associated with a generalized muscle weakness. Through analysis of HACD1-deficient Labradors, Hacd1-knockout mice, and Hacd1-deficient myoblasts, we provide evidence that HACD1 promotes myoblast fusion during muscle development and regeneration. We further demonstrate that in normal differentiating myoblasts, expression of the catalytically active HACD1 isoform, which is encoded by a muscle-enriched splice variant, yields decreased lysophosphatidylcholine content, a potent inhibitor of myoblast fusion, and increased concentrations of ≥ C18 and monounsaturated fatty acids of phospholipids. These lipid modifications correlate with a reduction in plasma membrane rigidity. In conclusion, we propose that fusion impairment constitutes a novel, non-exclusive pathological mechanism operating in congenital myopathies and reveal that HACD1 is a key regulator of a lipid-dependent muscle fibre growth mechanism.

Somatic hypermutation at A/T-rich oligonucleotide substrates shows different strand polarities in Ung-deficient or -proficient backgrounds.

A/T mutations at immunoglobulin loci are introduced by DNA polymerase η (Polη) during an Msh2/6-dependent repair process which results in A's being mutated 2-fold more often than T's. This patch synthesis is initiated by a DNA incision event whose origin is still obscure. We report here the analysis of A/T oligonucleotide mutation substrates inserted at the heavy chain locus, including or not including internal C's or G's. Surprisingly, the template composed of only A's and T's was highly mutated over its entire 90-bp length, with a 2-fold decrease in mutation from the 5' to the 3' end and a constant A/T ratio of 4. These results imply that Polη synthesis was initiated from a break in the 5'-flanking region of the substrate and proceeded over its entire length. The A/T bias was strikingly altered in an Ung(-/-) background, which provides the first experimental evidence supporting a concerted action of Ung and Msh2/6 pathways to generate mutations at A/T bases. New analysis of Pms2(-/-) animals provided a complementary picture, revealing an A/T mutation ratio of 4. We therefore propose that Ung and Pms2 may exert a mutual backup function for the DNA incision that promotes synthesis by Polη, each with a distinct strand bias.

Identification of a human splenic marginal zone B cell precursor with NOTCH2-dependent differentiation properties.

Mouse splenic marginal zone precursors (MZPs) differentiate into marginal zone B (MZB) cells under a signaling pathway involving Notch2 and its ligand, delta-like 1 ligand (Dll1). We report the identification of an MZP subset in the spleen of young children. These MZPs differentiate into MZ-like B cells in vitro in the presence of OP9 cells expressing human DLL1, as demonstrated by the up-regulation of classical MZB cell markers. A set of diagnostic genes discriminating IgM(+)IgD(+)CD27(+) blood and splenic MZB cells from switched B cells was identified (up-regulation of SOX7, down-regulation of TOX, COCH, and HOPX), and their expression during the induction assay mirrored the one of MZB cells. Moreover, Alagille patients with a NOTCH2 haploinsufficiency display a marked reduction of IgM(+)IgD(+)CD27(+) B cells in blood, whereas their switched memory B cells are not affected. Altogether, these results argue in favor of the existence of a rodent-like MZB cell lineage in humans.

AID and partners: for better and (not) for worse.

Post-rearrangement diversification of the antibody repertoire relies on a DNA editing factor, the cytidine deaminase AID. How B lymphocytes avoid generalized mutagenesis while expressing high levels of AID remained a long-standing question. Genome-wide studies of AID targeting combined to the discovery of several co-factors controlling its recruitment and its local activity shed new light on this enigma.

Histone variant macroH2A1 deletion in mice causes female-specific steatosis.

BACKGROUND: Vertebrate heterochromatin contains a non-allelic variant of the histone H2A called macroH2A1, which has the characteristic of being three times the size of the canonical H2A. The macroH2A1 C-terminal extension can recruit onto chromatin the poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP)1, which is crucial for DNA repair. This led to the speculation that macroH2A1 could be essential for genome surveillance; however, no experimental evidence supported this hypothesis. Because macroH2A1 has been found to be enriched on the inactive X-chromosome in females, it is thought to play a role in sex chromosome dosage compensation through its ability to regulate gene expression. However, more genetic data are needed to further understand the function of macroH2A1 in mammals. RESULTS: Deletion of the murine gene H2afy, which encodes for macroH2A1, resulted in lipid accumulation in liver. Hepatic steatosis caused by H2afy disruption occurred specifically in homozygous mutant females. The metabolic disorder constantly affected half of the number of homozygote females. Given the mixed genetic background of the mutants, an unreported genetic modifier is likely to influence the penetrance of the phenotype. In addition, the X-linked thyroxine-binding globulin (Tbg) gene was specifically upregulated in steatotic livers. Chromatin immunoprecitation indicated that macroH2A1 is enriched at the Tbg promoter in wild-type female animals, indicating that increased Tbg expression in H2afy null mutants is likely to be a direct consequence of the absence of macroH2A1. Furthermore, male mice, which are not prone to the metabolic disorder, had a reduced level of macroH2A1 incorporated into the Tbg promoter. CONCLUSIONS: Because TBG is the main carrier of the thyroid hormone T4, which regulates energy metabolism, we propose that overexpression of TBG is responsible for the fat accumulation observed in H2afy-deficient liver. Moreover, our results suggest that the sexual dimorphism of the steatotic phenotype is probably due to the different incorporation of macroH2A1 in males and females. In combination with previous studies, our data demonstrate a role for macroH2A1 in regulating homeostasis in a sex-dependent manner, subject to genetic background.