Project description:We report that a large percentage of thymic B cells undergo class switching intrathymically. Thymic B cell class switching requires cognate T-B interaction. To determine whether B cell specificity was also important for thymic B cell class-switching, we sorted class-switched thymic B cells (CD19+B220+IgM-IgD-), unswitched B cells (CD19+B220+IgM+IgD+) and bulk splenic B cells in 3H9 heavy chain-fixed mice and performed high throughput sequencing analysis of the light chain of these populations. Results of this analysis indicated that class-switched thymic B cells have a distinct repertoire compared with unswitched thymic B cells and splenic B cells. Further reactivity tests indicated that a large part of BCRs enriched in class-switched thymic B cells are autoreactive. These data suggest that autoreactive B cells are selected into class-switched population and expanded in the thymus. Light chain repertoire profiles of class-switched thymic B cells, unswithced thymic B cells and splenic B cells from 3H9 mice were generated by deep sequencing.
Project description:We report that a large percentage of thymic B cells undergo class switching intrathymically. Thymic B cell class switching requires cognate T-B interaction. To determine whether B cell specificity was also important for thymic B cell class-switching, we sorted class-switched thymic B cells (CD19+B220+IgM-IgD-), unswitched B cells (CD19+B220+IgM+IgD+) and bulk splenic B cells in 3H9 heavy chain-fixed mice and performed high throughput sequencing analysis of the light chain of these populations. Results of this analysis indicated that class-switched thymic B cells have a distinct repertoire compared with unswitched thymic B cells and splenic B cells. Further reactivity tests indicated that a large part of BCRs enriched in class-switched thymic B cells are autoreactive. These data suggest that autoreactive B cells are selected into class-switched population and expanded in the thymus.
Project description:BCR repertoire sequencing of isotype-switched memory B cells Aim of the study was to explore the differences of Ig repertoires of isotype-switched memory B cells between spleen and bone marrow compartments.
Project description:Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is an autoimmune and degenerative disorder of skeletal muscle. The B cell infiltrates in IBM muscle tissue are predominantly fully differentiated antibody-secreting plasma cells, with scarce naïve or memory B cells. The role of this infiltrate in the disease pathology is not well understood. To better define the humoral response in IBM, we used adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing to generate large B cell receptor (BCR) repertoire libraries from IBM muscle biopsies and compared them to those generated from dermatomyositis (DM), polymyositis (PM), and circulating CD27+ memory B cells, derived from healthy controls and antibody secreting cells (ASC) collected following vaccination. The repertoire properties of the IBM infiltrate included: expanded clones that equaled or exceeded the highly clonal vaccine-associated ASC repertoire; reduced somatic mutation selection pressure in the complementary determining regions and framework regions; and enriched usage of class switched IgG and IgA isotypes, with a minor population of IgM expressing cells. These IBM IgM-expressing population revealed unique features, including an elevated somatic mutation frequency and distinct CDR3 physicochemical properties., These findings demonstrate that the IBM muscle BCR repertoire is highly distinct from DM and PM and circulating antigen-experienced subsets, suggesting that it may form through selection by a disease-specific set of antigens.
