Heterogeneous antibody repertoire of marginal zone B cells specific for virus-like particles

Microbes Infect. 2007 Mar;9(3):391-9. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2006.12.017. Epub 2007 Jan 12.

Abstract

Marginal zone (MZ) B cells differ from follicular (FO) B cells in their functional, phenotypic and localization properties. It is still unclear whether B cells from the MZ compartment also have distinct or biased BCR specificities, recognizing only a limited number of conserved antigenic structures. To address the complexity of the immune response mounted by marginal zone B cells, we compared the antibody repertoire of murine MZ and FO B cells induced by immunization with two different virus-like particles (VLPs). Antibody sequences isolated from sorted VLP-specific MZ and FO B cells were similar in heavy chain V, D and J gene segment usage. Sequence analysis of CDR3 regions of antibodies from MZ and FO B cells also revealed no consistent difference in N nucleotide additions or CDR3 length. In contrast, somatic hypermutations were reduced in CDR regions of antibodies from MZ B cells compared to those from FO B cells. These results indicate that the response of MZ B cells to VLPs is clonotypically heterogeneous and suggest that the MZ B cell compartment is capable of generating variable and diverse antibody responses.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood
  • Antibodies, Viral / chemistry
  • Antibodies, Viral / genetics
  • Antibodies, Viral / immunology
  • Antibody Diversity*
  • Antibody Specificity*
  • B-Lymphocyte Subsets / immunology*
  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • Female
  • Genes, Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain / genetics
  • Immunization
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / chemistry
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / genetics
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / immunology
  • Immunoglobulin Variable Region / chemistry
  • Immunoglobulin Variable Region / genetics
  • Immunoglobulin Variable Region / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin
  • Virion / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains
  • Immunoglobulin Variable Region