B cell-specific deficiencies in mTOR limit humoral immune responses

J Immunol. 2013 Aug 15;191(4):1692-703. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1201767. Epub 2013 Jul 15.

Abstract

Generation of high-affinity Abs in response to Ags/infectious agents is essential for developing long-lasting immune responses. B cell maturation and Ab responses to Ag stimulation require Ig somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class-switch recombination (CSR) for high-affinity responses. Upon immunization with either the model Ag 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylacetyl hapten (NP) conjugated to chicken γ globulin lysine (NP-CGG) or heat-killed Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular type 14 protein (Pn14), knock-in (KI) mice hypomorphic for mTOR function had a decreased ability to form germinal centers, develop high-affinity anti-NP-specific or anti-Pn14-specific Abs, and perform SHM/CSR. Hypomorphic mTOR mice also had a high mortality (40%) compared with wild-type (WT) (0%) littermates and had lower pneumococcal surface protein A-specific Ab titers when immunized and challenged with live S. pneumoniae infection. Mice with mTOR deleted in their B cell lineage (knockout [KO]) also produced fewer splenic germinal centers and decreased high-affinity Ab responses to NP-CGG than did their WT littermates. CSR rates were lower in mTOR KI and KO mice, and pharmacologic inhibition of mTOR in WT B cells resulted in decreased rates of ex vivo CSR. RNA and protein levels of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), a protein essential for SHM and CSR, were lower in B cells from both KI and B cell-specific KO mice, concomitant with increases in phosphorylated AKT and FOXO1. Rescue experiments increasing AID expression in KI B cells restored CSR levels to those in WT B cells. Thus, mTOR plays an important immunoregulatory role in the germinal center, at least partially through AID signaling, in generating high-affinity Abs.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Bacterial / biosynthesis
  • Antibodies, Bacterial / immunology
  • Antibody Affinity
  • Antibody Diversity*
  • Antibody Formation*
  • B-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Bacterial Capsules / immunology
  • Cell Lineage
  • Cytidine Deaminase / immunology*
  • Enzyme Activation
  • Gene Knock-In Techniques
  • Germinal Center / immunology
  • Germinal Center / pathology
  • Haptens / immunology
  • Housing, Animal
  • Immunization
  • Immunoglobulin Class Switching
  • Immunoglobulin G / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Nitrophenols / immunology
  • Phenylacetates / immunology
  • Signal Transduction / immunology
  • Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin
  • Spleen / immunology
  • Spleen / pathology
  • Streptococcal Infections / immunology
  • Streptococcus pneumoniae / immunology
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / immunology*

Substances

  • Antibodies, Bacterial
  • Haptens
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Nitrophenols
  • Phenylacetates
  • pneumococcal polysaccharide, type 14
  • 4-hydroxy-5-nitrophenyl acetic acid
  • mTOR protein, mouse
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases
  • AICDA (activation-induced cytidine deaminase)
  • Cytidine Deaminase