CTLA-4 blockade enhances germinal center reactions in lymph nodes that drive glioma-specific IgG production and glioma clearance [scRNA/BCR-seq]
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE293917 | GEO | 2026/05/28
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:The orchestration of humoral immunity mediated by B cells in lymph nodes (LNs) is essential for generating adaptive immune response. Despite this crucial role in host defense, B cell responses in cancer have been primarily examined in the tumor microenvironment, while their role in LNs remains largely unexplored. We show that B cell responses in LNs induced by αCTLA-4 regulate glioblastoma (GBM) progression. αCTLA-4 promotes germinal center (GC) formation in deep cervical LNs by enhancing B cell–CD4 T cell interactions, leading to expansion of antigen-specific GC B cells and class switching. This generates tumor-specific IgG, which binds glioma cells and triggers antibody-mediated phagocytosis. Mice lacking antibody-secreting cells fail to benefit from CTLA-4 blockade, underscoring the importance of humoral immunity in tumor control. Our study highlights the role of B cells in tumor-draining LNs and uncovers a novel B cell–dependent mechanism underlying αCTLA-4 efficacy in GBM.
2026-05-28 | GSE293916 | GEO
Project description:Humoral immunity, which is mediated by B cells that mature in germinal centers (GCs) in lymph nodes (LNs), is essential for adaptive immune responses. However, the involvement of B cell responses in anti-tumor and immunotherapy responses remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that activation of B cells in GCs of tumor-draining deep cervical LNs (dcLNs) is necessary for the efficacy of CTLA-4 immune checkpoint blockade in glioma in vivo. We demonstrate that anti-CTLA-4 therapy enhances follicular helper T cell (Tfh) expansion in dcLNs, leading to GC B cell formation, class switching to IgG, and the generation of glioma-specific antibodies. Glioma-bearing mice lacking antibody-secreting cells did not benefit from CTLA-4 blockade. Furthermore, using our new in vivo reporter system, we show that distally-secreted glioma-specific IgG infiltrates the tumor microenvironment and triggers glioma cell phagocytosis. Our study uncovers a previously unknown B cell–dependent mechanism underlying anti-CTLA-4 mediated control of glioma, which could be harnessed to treat other tumor types.
2026-05-28 | GSE315742 | GEO
Project description:The germinal center response or reaction (GCR) is a hallmark event of adaptive humoral immunity. Unfolding in the B cell follicles of the secondary lymph organs, a GC culminates in the production of high-affinity antibody-secreting plasma cells along with memory B cells. By interacting with follicular dendritic cells (FDC) and T follicular helper (Tfh) cells, GC B cells exhibit complex spatiotemporal dynamics. Driving the B cell dynamics are the intracellular signal transduction and gene regulatory network that responds to cell surface signaling molecules, cytokines, and chemokines. As our knowledge of the GC continues to expand in depth and in scope, mathematical modeling has become an important tool to help disentangle the intricacy of the GCR and inform novel mechanistic and clinical insights. While the GC has been modeled at different granularities, a multiscale spatial simulation framework – integrating molecular, cellular, and tissue-level responses – is still rare. Here, we report our recent progress toward this end with a hybrid stochastic GC framework developed on the Cellular Potts Model-based CompuCell3D platform. Tellurium is used to simulate the B cell intracellular molecular network comprising NF-κB, FOXO1, MYC, AP4, CXCR4, and BLIMP1 that responds to B cell receptor (BCR) and CD40-mediated signaling. The molecular outputs of the network drive the spatiotemporal behaviors of B cells, including cyclic migration between the dark zone (DZ) and light zone (LZ) via chemotaxis; clonal proliferative bursts, somatic hypermutation, and DNA damage-induced apoptosis in the DZ; and positive selection, apoptosis via a death timer, and emergence of plasma cells in the LZ. Our simulations are able to recapitulate key molecular, cellular, and morphological GC events including B cell population growth, affinity maturation, and clonal dominance. This novel modeling framework provides an open-source, customizable, and multiscale virtual GC simulation platform that enables qualitative and quantitative in silico investigations of a range of mechanic and applied research questions on the adaptive humoral immune response in future.
2025-03-31 | MODEL2503310001 | BioModels
Project description:Protection against deadly pathogens requires the production of high-affinity antibodies by B cells. High-affinity antibody-forming cells are generated in germinal centers (GC) as a result of a developmental program that is commonly altered in B cell malignancies. Identification of regulators of the GC response is crucial to develop targeted therapies for GC B cell dysfunctions including lymphomas. The Histone H3 lysine-27 methyltransferase Enhancer of Zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is highly expressed in GC B cells and often constitutively activated in GC-derived Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), but its function in these cells remains largely unknown. Herein, we show that Ezh2 inactivation in mouse GC B cells causes a profound impairment in GC responses, memory B cell formation and humoral immunity. Mechanistically, Ezh2 protected GC B cells against AID mutagenesis, facilitated cell-cycle progression independent of p16INK4a repression and silenced plasma cell determinants Blimp1 and Irf4. Likewise, EZH2 inhibition in GC-derived NHL cells induced tumor suppressor BLIMP1, which impaired tumor growth. In conclusion, in GC B cells Ezh2 sustains AID function and prevents terminal differentiation to allow antibody diversification and affinity maturation. Dysregulation of such mechanisms may facilitate lymphomagenesis and identifies EZH2 as possible therapeutic target in NHL and other GC-derived B cell diseases. In this study, two independent primary samples of splenic GC B cells from C5/BL/6J mice were subjected to H3K27me3 and H3K4me3 ChIP-sequencing. A totale of 6 samples, including input samples, were subjected to ultra-deep sequencing.
2013-12-11 | E-GEOD-50912 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:An alluring strategy for improving protective humoral immunity against infectious diseases would be to directly target the germinal center (GC). There remains a critical need for next generation vaccine approaches to elicit more potent GC responses and durable humoral immunity. Here, we investigated whether cytokines could be scaffolded on nanoparticles to further enhance antigen-specific GC responses. We designed a chimeric nanoparticle using the GT8-60mer, a germline-targeting HIV immunogen, as a model to scaffold IL-21. Nanoparticle immunoadjuvant complexes (NICs) scaffolding GT8 and IL-21 (GT8-IL-21-NIC) drove improved serum antibody titers, antigen-specific GC B cells, and functional Tfh cell responses relative to antigen-only nanoparticles and to co-delivery of IL-21 monomer. Single-cell RNA sequencing of antigen-specific GC B cells from GT8-IL-21-NIC immunized mice demonstrated upregulation of LZ and selection-associated gene signatures. The NIC platform was versatile and could support changes to both the antigen and cytokine domains utilizing numerous GC-associated cytokines. Thus, NICs may provide value as a tool to improve antigen-specific vaccine-induced immunity.
2025-10-01 | GSE278580 | GEO
Project description:Protection against deadly pathogens requires the production of high-affinity antibodies by B cells. High-affinity antibody-forming cells are generated in germinal centers (GC) as a result of a developmental program that is commonly altered in B cell malignancies. Identification of regulators of the GC response is crucial to develop targeted therapies for GC B cell dysfunctions including lymphomas. The Histone H3 lysine-27 methyltransferase Enhancer of Zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is highly expressed in GC B cells and often constitutively activated in GC-derived Non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL), but its function in these cells remains largely unknown. Herein, we show that Ezh2 inactivation in mouse GC B cells causes a profound impairment in GC responses, memory B cell formation and humoral immunity. Mechanistically, Ezh2 protected GC B cells against AID mutagenesis, facilitated cell-cycle progression independent of p16INK4a repression and silenced plasma cell determinants Blimp1 and Irf4. Likewise, EZH2 inhibition in GC-derived NHL cells induced tumor suppressor BLIMP1, which impaired tumor growth. In conclusion, in GC B cells Ezh2 sustains AID function and prevents terminal differentiation to allow antibody diversification and affinity maturation. Dysregulation of such mechanisms may facilitate lymphomagenesis and identifies EZH2 as possible therapeutic target in NHL and other GC-derived B cell diseases.
2013-12-11 | GSE50912 | GEO
Project description:A strategy for improving protective humoral immunity against infectious diseases is to directly modulate the germinal center (GC) through immunogen design, such as germline targeting. However, there remains a critical need for next generation vaccine approaches to elicit improved GC responses resulting in increased antibody specificity, diversity, and durability. Here, we investigated whether a cytokine could be scaffolded on nanoparticles to enhance antigen-specific GC responses and drive maturation of B cell lineages. We designed a chimeric nanoparticle using the GT8-60mer, a germline-targeting HIV immunogen, as a model to scaffold IL-21, a canonical GC cytokine. Delivered using plasmid DNA, nanoparticle immunoadjuvant complexes (NICs) scaffolding GT8 and IL-21 (GT8-IL-21-NIC) drove improved serum antibody titers, antigen-specific GC B cells, and functional Tfh cell responses relative to antigen-only nanoparticles and to co-delivery of IL-21 monomer. Immunization with the GT8-IL-21-NIC also improve humoral immune response durability, with improved bone marrow plasma cell responses. Transcriptomic analysis of GT8-specific GC B cells from GT8-IL-21-NIC immunized mice demonstrated upregulation of selection-associated gene signatures. Utilizing mice harboring human VRC01-class bnAb precursor heavy and light chain genes, immunization with the GT8-IL-21-NIC led to enhanced GC responses with increased antibody diversity, clonal expansion, and somatic hypermutation, with B cells acquiring an increased number of key VRC01-class broadly neutralizing antibody mutations. Thus, generating NICs using IL-21 may provide value as a tool to improve antigen-specific GC responses and vaccine-induced immunity.
2026-03-18 | GSE311626 | GEO
Project description:The expression of the Nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) was described in follicular dendritic cells (FDCs), the major lymphoid stromal cell (LSC) compartment regulating B-cell activation within germinal centers (GCs). However, the role of NGFR in humoral response is not well defined. In this work, we have studied the effect of Ngfr KO in LNs organization and function. Ngfr KO led to spontaneous GC formation and expansion of GC B-cell compartment that were related on Ngfr depletion in non-hematopoietic radioresistant compartment. In agreement, Ngfr KO mice showed alterations in LSC with an increased frequency of FDCs harboring an activated phenotype characterized by the overexpression of CD21/35, MAdCAM-1, and VCAM-1. Moreover, Ngfr KO mice showed GC ectopic location, loss of polarization, impaired high-affinity antibody production, and increased circulating autoantibodies. In addition, Ngfr KO/Bcl2 Tg mice displayed increased levels of autoantibodies, higher incidence of autoimmunity, and decreased overall survival. Our work shows that NGFR maintains GC structure and functionality being involved in the regulation of antibody production and immune tolerance.
2023-12-13 | GSE236511 | GEO
Project description:During the germinal center (GC) reaction, B-cells undergo extensive redistribution of cohesin complex and 3D re-organization of their genomes. Yet, the significance of cohesin and architectural programming in the humoral immune response is unknown. Herein we report that conditional homozygous deletion of cohesin subunit Smc3 abrogated GC formation, yet in marked contrast, Smc3 haploinsufficiency induced GC hyperplasia, skewing of GC polarity and impaired plasma cell differentiation. Transcriptional and architectural profiling revealed defects in GC terminal differentiation programs controlled by lymphoma epigenetic tumor suppressors Tet2 and Kmt2d, and failure of Smc3+/- GC B-cells to switch from B-cell to plasma cell lineage factors. There was also impaired connectivity of gene regulatory elements controlling tumor suppressor genes, and accordingly Smc3 haploinsufficiency accelerated lymphomagenesis in mice with constitutive Bcl6 expression. Collectively, our data indicate a dose dependent function for cohesin in humoral immunity to facilitate the B-cell to plasma cell lineage switch, while restricting their malignant transformation.
2020-10-13 | GSE146755 | GEO
Project description:During the germinal center (GC) reaction, B-cells undergo extensive redistribution of cohesin complex and 3D re-organization of their genomes. Yet, the significance of cohesin and architectural programming in the humoral immune response is unknown. Herein we report that conditional homozygous deletion of cohesin subunit Smc3 abrogated GC formation, yet in marked contrast, Smc3 haploinsufficiency induced GC hyperplasia, skewing of GC polarity and impaired plasma cell differentiation. Transcriptional and architectural profiling revealed defects in GC terminal differentiation programs controlled by lymphoma epigenetic tumor suppressors Tet2 and Kmt2d, and failure of Smc3+/- GC B-cells to switch from B-cell to plasma cell lineage factors. There was also impaired connectivity of gene regulatory elements controlling tumor suppressor genes, and accordingly Smc3 haploinsufficiency accelerated lymphomagenesis in mice with constitutive Bcl6 expression. Collectively, our data indicate a dose dependent function for cohesin in humoral immunity to facilitate the B-cell to plasma cell lineage switch, while restricting their malignant transformation.
2020-10-13 | GSE146754 | GEO