Central Role of Core Binding Factor β2 in Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Organogenesis in Mouse

PLoS One. 2015 May 22;10(5):e0127460. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127460. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is a group of secondary and organized lymphoid tissue that develops at different mucosal surfaces. Peyer's patches (PPs), nasopharynx-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT), and tear duct-associated lymphoid tissue (TALT) are representative MALT in the small intestine, nasal cavity, and lacrimal sac, respectively. A recent study has shown that transcriptional regulators of core binding factor (Cbf) β2 and promotor-1-transcribed Runt-related transcription factor 1 (P1-Runx1) are required for the differentiation of CD3-CD4+CD45+ lymphoid tissue inducer (LTi) cells, which initiate and trigger the developmental program of PPs, but the involvement of this pathway in NALT and TALT development remains to be elucidated. Here we report that Cbfβ2 plays an essential role in NALT and TALT development by regulating LTi cell trafficking to the NALT and TALT anlagens. Cbfβ2 was expressed in LTi cells in all three types of MALT examined. Indeed, similar to the previous finding for PPs, we found that Cbfβ2-/- mice lacked NALT and TALT lymphoid structures. However, in contrast to PPs, NALT and TALT developed normally in the absence of P1-Runx1 or other Runx family members such as Runx2 and Runx3. LTi cells for NALT and TALT differentiated normally but did not accumulate in the respective lymphoid tissue anlagens in Cbfβ2-/- mice. These findings demonstrate that Cbfβ2 is a central regulator of the MALT developmental program, but the dependency of Runx proteins on the lymphoid tissue development would differ among PPs, NALT, and TALT.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Core Binding Factor alpha Subunits / genetics
  • Core Binding Factor alpha Subunits / metabolism
  • Core Binding Factor beta Subunit / genetics
  • Core Binding Factor beta Subunit / metabolism*
  • Lymphoid Tissue / metabolism*
  • Lymphoid Tissue / pathology
  • Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / genetics
  • Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / metabolism*
  • Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / pathology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Mucous Membrane / metabolism
  • Mucous Membrane / pathology
  • Nasolacrimal Duct / metabolism
  • Nasolacrimal Duct / pathology
  • Nasopharynx / metabolism
  • Nasopharynx / pathology
  • Organogenesis / genetics*
  • Peyer's Patches / metabolism*
  • Peyer's Patches / pathology

Substances

  • Core Binding Factor alpha Subunits
  • Core Binding Factor beta Subunit

Grants and funding

This work was supported by The Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology Program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency to HK, A Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas, Scientific Research (S) to HK Grant Number 23229004, The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan to HK Grant Number H24-010, Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up to TN Grant Number 25893306. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.