Phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity in T cells regulates the magnitude of the germinal center reaction

J Rolf, SE Bell, D Kovesdi, ML Janas… - The Journal of …, 2010 - journals.aai.org
J Rolf, SE Bell, D Kovesdi, ML Janas, DR Soond, L Webb, S Santinelli, T Saunders…
The Journal of Immunology, 2010journals.aai.org
The generation of high-affinity Abs is essential for immunity and requires collaboration
between B and T cells within germinal centers (GCs). By using novel mouse models with a
conditional deletion of the p110δ catalytic subunit of the PI3K pathway, we established that
p110δ is required in T cells, but not in B cells, for the GC reaction. We found the formation of
T follicular helper (T FH) cells to be critically dependent on p110δ in T cells. Furthermore, by
deleting phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10, which opposes …
Abstract
The generation of high-affinity Abs is essential for immunity and requires collaboration between B and T cells within germinal centers (GCs). By using novel mouse models with a conditional deletion of the p110δ catalytic subunit of the PI3K pathway, we established that p110δ is required in T cells, but not in B cells, for the GC reaction. We found the formation of T follicular helper (T FH) cells to be critically dependent on p110δ in T cells. Furthermore, by deleting phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10, which opposes p110δ in activated T cells, we found a positive correlation between increased numbers of T FH cells and GC B cells. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that T cell help is the limiting factor in the GC reaction. P110δ was not required for the expression of B cell lymphoma 6, the downregulation of CCR7, or T cell entry into primary follicles. Instead, p110δ was the critical catalytic subunit for ICOS downstream signaling and the production of key T FH cytokines and effector molecules. Our findings support a model in which the magnitude of the GC reaction is controlled by the activity of the PI3K pathway in T FH cells.
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