Intrinsic properties of immunoglobulin IgG1 isotype-switched B cell receptors promote microclustering and the initiation of signaling.

Memory B cells express high-affinity, immunoglobulin GB cell receptors (IgG BCRs) that enhance B cell responses, giving rise to the rapid production of high-affinity, IgG antibodies. Despite the central role of IgG BCRs in memory responses, the mechanisms by which the IgG BCRs function to enhance B cell responses are not fully understood. Using high-resolution live-cell imaging, we showed that IgG1 BCRs dramatically enhanced the earliest BCR-intrinsic events that followed within seconds of B cells' encounter with membrane bound antigen, including BCR oligomerization and BCR microcluster growth, leading to Syk kinase recruitment and calcium responses. The enhancement of these early events was dependent on a membrane proximal region of the IgG1 cytoplasmic tail not previously appreciated to play a role in IgG1 BCR signaling. Thus, intrinsic properties of the IgG1 BCR enhance early antigen-driven events that ultimately translate into heightened signaling.

FcRL4 acts as an adaptive to innate molecular switch dampening BCR signaling and enhancing TLR signaling.

Fc receptor-like 4 (FcRL4) is expressed on the surface of a subset of memory B cells (MBCs) located at sites of invading pathogens in mucosal lymphoid tissues in healthy individuals. Recently, FcRL4(+) MBCs were shown to be greatly increased in number in the peripheral blood of HIV-infected viremic individuals, in whom they are associated with B-cell exhaustion, and in individuals chronically reinfected with malaria. In the present study, we provide evidence that the expression of FcRL4 in human B-cell lines disrupts immune synapse formation and blocks antigen-induced BCR signaling at the point of Syk phosphorylation, blocking downstream activation of PLC-γ2 and Vav and the induction of calcium responses and CD69 expression. FcRL4 functions by ligation-independent mechanisms that require the 3 tyrosine residues in its cytoplasmic domain and involves its phosphorylation and association with the tyrosine phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2. Remarkably, FcRL4 is concentrated in endosomes after treatment with the TLR9 agonist CpG and enhances signaling through TLR9, as measured by increased expression of CD23. These findings suggest that FcRL4 may act as a molecular switch in B cells to dampen adaptive immune signaling and enhance innate signaling in response to chronic antigenic stimulation.

The molecular assembly and organization of signaling active B-cell receptor oligomers.

In B cells, antigen drives the formation of B-cell receptor (BCR) clusters that initiate the formation of signaling complexes associated with the cytoplasmic domains of the BCRs. These signaling active complexes contain a number of protein and lipid kinases and phosphatases and adapter and scaffolding proteins that together function to trigger downstream signaling cascades leading to the activation of a variety of genes associated with B-cell activation. Although we are learning a considerable amount about the molecular details of the assembly of immune receptor signaling complexes, as reviewed in this volume, a fundamental question remains, namely how does antigen binding outside the cell initiate the assembly of signaling complexes inside the cell. For B cells, we do not yet understand how the information that the ectodomain of the BCR has bound to an antigen is translated across the membrane to induce changes in the cytoplasmic domains that trigger the assembly of signaling complexes. Here we describe what is known about the initiation of the antigen-driven BCR signal transduction in the newly emerging context of B-cell recognition of antigens presented by antigen-presenting cells in lymphoid tissues. We also discuss a recently proposed model for the initiation of BCR signaling termed the 'conformation-induced oligomerization model' and address the implications of this model for the mechanisms by which BCR signaling may be modulated by adapters and coreceptors.

MAxSIM: multi-angle-crossing structured illumination microscopy with height-controlled mirror for 3D topological mapping of live cells.

Mapping 3D plasma membrane topology in live cells can bring unprecedented insights into cell biology. Widefield-based super-resolution methods such as 3D-structured illumination microscopy (3D-SIM) can achieve twice the axial ( ~ 300 nm) and lateral ( ~ 100 nm) resolution of widefield microscopy in real time in live cells. However, twice-resolution enhancement cannot sufficiently visualize nanoscale fine structures of the plasma membrane. Axial interferometry methods including fluorescence light interference contrast microscopy and its derivatives (e.g., scanning angle interference microscopy) can determine nanoscale axial locations of proteins on and near the plasma membrane. Thus, by combining super-resolution lateral imaging of 2D-SIM with axial interferometry, we developed multi-angle-crossing structured illumination microscopy (MAxSIM) to generate multiple incident angles by fast, optoelectronic creation of diffraction patterns. Axial localization accuracy can be enhanced by placing cells on a bottom glass substrate, locating a custom height-controlled mirror (HCM) at a fixed axial position above the glass substrate, and optimizing the height reconstruction algorithm for noisy experimental data. The HCM also enables imaging of both the apical and basal surfaces of a cell. MAxSIM with HCM offers high-fidelity nanoscale 3D topological mapping of cell plasma membranes with near-real-time ( ~ 0.5 Hz) imaging of live cells and 3D single-molecule tracking.

Viewing the antigen-induced initiation of B-cell activation in living cells.

The binding of antigen to the B-cell receptor (BCR) induces BCR clustering and signaling cascades that lead to the activation of a variety of genes associated with B-cell activation. Over the last several years, our understanding of the molecular details of the BCR signaling pathways have been considerably advanced; what remains only poorly understood are the molecular events that initiate BCR clustering and how clustering leads to activation. Here, we review our progress using live cell imaging technologies to view the earliest events that follow the B cell's binding of antigen. We provide a model for BCR clustering and B-cell activation that involves an intrinsic tendency of the BCR to cluster and does not require direct crosslinking of the BCR by multivalent antigens. We suggest that local membrane topology and lipid composition play key roles in BCR clustering and initiation of signaling. We believe that our model for B-cell activation, in which receptor interactions with monovalent antigens on membrane surfaces lead to receptor clustering, may be highly relevant to the mechanisms by which other immune receptors cluster including the T-cell receptor in response to monovalent peptide-major histocompatibility complex complexes.

Cbl-b negatively regulates B cell antigen receptor signaling in mature B cells through ubiquitination of the tyrosine kinase Syk.

Members of the Cbl family of molecular adaptors play key roles in regulating tyrosine kinase-dependent signaling in a variety of cellular systems. Here we provide evidence that in B cells Cbl-b functions as a negative regulator of B cell antigen receptor (BCR) signaling during the normal course of a response. In B cells from Cbl-b-deficient mice cross-linking the BCRs resulted in sustained phosphorylation of Igalpha, Syk, and phospholipase C (PLC)-gamma2, leading to prolonged Ca2+ mobilization, and increases in extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun NH2-terminal protein kinase (JNK) phosphorylation and surface expression of the activation marker, CD69. Image analysis following BCR cross-linking showed sustained polarization of the BCRs into large signaling-active caps associated with phosphorylated Syk in Cbl-b-deficient B cells in contrast to the BCRs in Cbl-b-expressing B cells that rapidly proceeded to form small, condensed, signaling inactive caps. Significantly, prolonged phosphorylation of Syk correlated with reduced ubiquitination of Syk indicating that Cbl-b negatively regulates BCR signaling by targeting Syk for ubiquitination.

Time-Lapse Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Imaging by Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy for Analyzing Dynamic Molecular Interactions in the Plasma Membrane of B Cells.

For decades, various Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) techniques have been developed to measure the distance between interacting molecules. FRET imaging by the sensitized acceptor emission method has been widely applied to study the dynamical association between two molecules at a nanometer scale in live cells. Here, we provide a detailed protocol for FRET imaging by sensitized emission using a confocal laser scanning microscope to analyze the interaction of the B cell receptor (BCR) with the Lyn-enriched lipid microdomain on the plasma membrane of live cells upon antigen binding, one of the earliest signaling events in BCR-mediated B cell activation.

Isolation of lipid rafts from B lymphocytes.

Recent advances in cell biology have provided evidence that the plasma membrane is not a homogeneous lipid bilayer but rather contains within it sphingolipid- and cholesterol-rich membrane microdomains, termed lipid rafts, which serve as platforms for both receptor signaling and trafficking. In B lymphocytes lipid rafts appear to play a key role in the initiation of B-cell antigen receptor (BCR) signaling. Current methods to isolate lipid rafts rely on the relative detergent insolubility of lipid rafts as compared to the nonraft, glycerophospholipid bilayer. Here a method to isolate and characterize lipid rafts from B lymphocytes is described. Particular emphasis is given to the potential artifacts inherent in current procedures that rely on detergents to isolate lipid rafts and alternative technologies that may circumvent these.

Understanding the initiation of B cell signaling through live cell imaging.

Antibody responses are initiated by the binding of antigens to clonally distributed cell surface B cell receptors (BCRs) that trigger signaling cascades resulting in B cell activation. Using conventional biochemical approaches, the components of the downstream BCR signaling pathways have been described in considerable detail. However, far less is known about the early molecular events by which the binding of antigens to the BCRs initiates BCR signaling. With the recent advent of high resolution, high speed, live cell, and single molecule imaging technologies, these events are just beginning to be elucidated. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation of BCR signaling may provide new targets for therapeutics to block dysregulated BCR signaling in systemic autoimmune diseases and in B cell tumors and to aid in the design of protein subunit vaccines. In this chapter, we describe the general procedures for using these new imaging techniques to investigate the early events in the initiation of BCR signaling.

Attenuation of HIV-associated human B cell exhaustion by siRNA downregulation of inhibitory receptors.

Chronic immune activation in HIV-infected individuals leads to accumulation of exhausted tissue-like memory B cells. Exhausted lymphocytes display increased expression of multiple inhibitory receptors, which may contribute to the inefficiency of HIV-specific antibody responses. Here, we show that downregulation of B cell inhibitory receptors in primary human B cells led to increased tissue-like memory B cell proliferation and responsiveness against HIV. In human B cells, siRNA knockdown of 9 known and putative B cell inhibitory receptors led to enhanced B cell receptor-mediated (BCR-mediated) proliferation of tissue-like memory but not other B cell subpopulations. The strongest effects were observed with the putative inhibitory receptors Fc receptor-like-4 (FCRL4) and sialic acid-binding Ig-like lectin 6 (Siglec-6). Inhibitory receptor downregulation also led to increased levels of HIV-specific antibody-secreting cells and B cell-associated chemokines and cytokines. The absence of known ligands for FCRL4 and Siglec-6 suggests these receptors may regulate BCR signaling through their own constitutive or tonic signaling. Furthermore, the extent of FCLR4 knockdown effects on BCR-mediated proliferation varied depending on the costimulatory ligand, suggesting that inhibitory receptors may engage specific pathways in inhibiting B cell proliferation. These findings on HIV-associated B cell exhaustion define potential targets for reversing the deleterious effect of inhibitory receptors on immune responses against persistent viral infections.

A method for analyzing protein-protein interactions in the plasma membrane of live B cells by fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging as acquired by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy.

For more than a decade, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging methods have been developed to study dynamic interactions between molecules at the nanometer scale in live cells. Here, we describe a protocol to measure FRET by the acceptor-sensitized emission method as detected by total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) imaging to study the interaction of appropriately labeled plasma membrane-associated molecules that regulate the earliest stages of antigen-mediated signaling in live B lymphocytes. This protocol can be adapted and applied to many cell types where there is an interest in understanding signal transduction mechanisms in live cells.

It's all about change: the antigen-driven initiation of B-cell receptor signaling.

B-cell responses are initiated by the binding of foreign antigens to the clonally distributed B-cell receptors (BCRs) resulting in the triggering of signaling cascades that activate a variety of genes associated with B-cell activation. Although we now understand the molecular nature of the signaling pathways in considerable detail what remains only poorly understood are the mechanisms by which the information that antigen has bound to the BCR ectodomain is transduced across the B-cell membrane to the BCR cytoplasmic domains to trigger signaling. To a large part this gap in knowledge is because of the paucity of techniques to temporally and spatially resolve changes in the behavior of the BCR that occur within several seconds of antigen binding. With the advent of new live-cell imaging technologies we are gaining our first clear views of the events that lead up to the triggering of BCR signaling cascades. These events may provide potential new targets for therapeutic intervention in disease involving hyper or chronic activation of B cells.

Antigen affinity discrimination is an intrinsic function of the B cell receptor.

Antibody affinity maturation, a hallmark of adaptive immune responses, results from the selection of B cells expressing somatically hypermutated B cell receptors (BCRs) with increased affinity for antigens. Despite the central role of affinity maturation in antibody responses, the molecular mechanisms by which the increased affinity of a B cell for antigen is translated into a selective advantage for that B cell in immune responses is incompletely understood. We use high resolution live-cell imaging to provide evidence that the earliest BCR-intrinsic events that follow within seconds of BCR-antigen binding are highly sensitive to the affinity of the BCR for antigen. High affinity BCRs readily form oligomers and the resulting microclusters grow rapidly, resulting in enhanced recruitment of Syk kinase and calcium fluxes. Thus, B cells are able to read the affinity of antigen by BCR-intrinsic mechanisms during the earliest phases of BCR clustering, leading to the initiation of B cell responses.

Membrane heterogeneities in the formation of B cell receptor-Lyn kinase microclusters and the immune synapse.

Antigen binding to the B cell receptors (BCRs) induces BCR clustering, phosphorylation of BCRs by the Src family kinase Lyn, initiation of signaling, and formation of an immune synapse. We investigated B cells as they first encountered antigen on a membrane using live cell high resolution total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy in conjunction with fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Newly formed BCR microclusters perturb the local membrane microenvironment, leading to association with a lipid raft probe. This early event is BCR intrinsic and independent of BCR signaling. Association of BCR microclusters with membrane-tethered Lyn depends on Lyn activity and persists as microclusters accumulate and form an immune synapse. Membrane perturbation and BCR-Lyn association correlate both temporally and spatially with the transition of microclustered BCRs from a "closed" to an "open" active signaling conformation. Visualization and analysis of the earliest events in BCR signaling highlight the importance of the membrane microenvironment for formation of BCR-Lyn complexes and the B cell immune synapse.

Live cell imaging reveals that the inhibitory FcgammaRIIB destabilizes B cell receptor membrane-lipid interactions and blocks immune synapse formation.

The FcgammaRIIB is a potent regulator of BCR signaling and as such plays a decisive role in controlling autoimmunity. The use of advanced imaging technologies has provided evidence that the earliest events in Ag-induced BCR signaling include the clustering of the BCR, the selective and transient association of the clustered BCR with raft lipids, and the concentration of BCR clusters in an immune synapse. That lipid rafts play a role in FcgammaRIIB's regulation of BCR signaling was suggested by recent studies showing that a lupus-associated loss of function mutation resulted in the receptor's exclusion from lipid rafts and the failure to regulate BCR signaling. In this study, we provide evidence from both biochemical analyses and fluorescence resonance energy transfer in conjunction with both confocal and total internal reflection microscopy in living cells that the FcgammaRIIB, when coligated with the BCR, associates with lipid rafts and functions both to destabilize the association of the BCR with raft lipids and to block the subsequent formation of the B cell's immune synapse. These results define new early targets of FcgammaRIIB inhibitory activity in the Ag-induced B cell activation pathway.

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in living cells reveals dynamic membrane changes in the initiation of B cell signaling.

B cell responses are initiated by the clustering of the B cell receptor (BCR) by the binding of multivalent antigens. Clustering leads to phosphorylation of tyrosines in the cytoplasmic domains of the BCR by the inner plasma membrane leaflet-associated Src-family kinase Lyn. At present, little is known about the earliest events after BCR clustering that precede the BCR's phosphorylation by Lyn. Here we use fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) in living cells to detect the interaction of the BCR with a Lyn-based membrane-targeted reporter in the first several seconds after BCR clustering. The results showed that, within seconds of antigen binding, the BCR selectively and transiently associated with the Lyn construct and that this association preceded by several seconds the triggering of Ca2+ fluxes and could be prolonged by the engagement of the B cell coreceptor complex, CD19/CD21. Thus, FRET measurements in living B cells revealed highly dynamic and regulated antigen-induced changes in the plasma membrane, allowing association of the BCR with the earliest components of its signaling cascade.

The initiation of antigen-induced B cell antigen receptor signaling viewed in living cells by fluorescence resonance energy transfer.

Binding of antigen to the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) triggers signaling that ultimately leads to B cell activation. Using quantitative fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging, we provide evidence here that the BCR is a monomer on the surface of resting cells. Binding of multivalent antigen clustered the BCR, resulting in the simultaneous phosphorylation of and a conformational change in the BCR cytoplasmic domains from a closed to an open form. Notably, the open conformation required immunoreceptor tyrosine-activation motif and continuous Src family kinase activity but not binding of the kinase Syk. Thus, the initiation of BCR signaling is a very dynamic process accompanied by reversible conformational changes induced by Src family kinase activity.

Location is everything: lipid rafts and immune cell signaling.

The cells of both the adaptive and innate immune systems express a dizzying array of receptors that transduce and integrate an enormous amount of information about the environment that allows the cells to mount effective immune responses. Over the past several years, significant advances have been made in elucidating the molecular details of signal cascades initiated by the engagement of immune cell receptors by their ligands. Recent evidence indicates that immune receptors and components of their signaling cascades are spatially organized and that this spatial organization plays a central role in the initiation and regulation of signaling. A key organizing element for signaling receptors appears to be cholesterol- and sphingolipid-rich plasma membrane microdomains termed lipid rafts. Research into the molecular basis of the spatial segregation and organization of signaling receptors provided by rafts is adding fundamentally to our understanding of the initiation and prolongation of signals in the immune system.

The tetraspanin CD81 is necessary for partitioning of coligated CD19/CD21-B cell antigen receptor complexes into signaling-active lipid rafts.

Tetraspanins have been hypothesized to facilitate the organization of functional multimolecular membrane complexes. In B cells the tetraspanin CD81 is a component of the CD19/CD21 complex. When coligated to the B cell Ag receptor (BCR), the CD19/CD21 complex significantly enhances BCR signaling in part by prolonging the association of the BCR with signaling-active lipid rafts. In this study CD81 is shown to associate with lipid rafts upon coligation of the BCR and the CD19/CD21 complex. Using B cells from CD81-deficient mice we demonstrate that in the absence of CD81, coligated BCR and CD19/CD21 complexes fail to partition into lipid rafts and enhance BCR signaling from rafts. Furthermore, a chimeric CD19 protein that associates only weakly if at all with CD81 fails to promote the association of coligated BCR with lipid rafts. The requirement for CD81 to promote lipid raft association may define a novel mechanism by which tetraspanins function as molecular facilitators of signaling receptors.