Neutrophils use immunoglobulins to clear antigen, but their role in immunoglobulin production is unknown.
Here we identified neutrophils around the marginal zone (MZ) of the spleen, a B cell area specialized in T cell-independent immunoglobulin responses to circulating antigen.
Neutrophils colonized peri-MZ areas after postnatal mucosal colonization by microbes and enhanced their B cell-helper function after receiving reprogramming signals, including interleukin 10 (IL-10), from splenic sinusoidal endothelial cells.
Splenic neutrophils induced immunoglobulin class switching, somatic hypermutation and antibody production by activating MZ B cells through a mechanism that involved the cytokines BAFF, APRIL and IL-21. Neutropenic patients had fewer and hypomutated MZ B cells and a lower abundance of preimmune immunoglobulins to T cell-independent antigens, which indicates that neutrophils generate an innate layer of antimicrobial immunoglobulin defense by interacting with MZ B cells.
2012-01-20
Eng.
Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica-Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain.
Nat Immunol. 2012 Feb;13(2):170-80
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