Long-lived bone marrow plasma cells are induced early in response to T cell-independent or T cell-dependent antigens

• Published in: The Journal of immunology (1950) 2012-06, Vol.188 (11), p.5389-5396
• Main Authors: Bortnick, Alexandra, Chernova, Irene, Quinn, 3rd, William J, Mugnier, Monica, Cancro, Michael P, Allman, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Bone Marrow Cells - cytology; Bone Marrow Cells - immunology; Bone Marrow Cells - metabolism; Cell Differentiation - immunology; Cell Lineage - immunology; Cell Survival - immunology; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - immunology; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - metabolism; Female; Germinal Center - cytology; Germinal Center - immunology; Germinal Center - metabolism; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Knockout; Mice, Transgenic; Plasma Cells - cytology; Plasma Cells - immunology; Plasma Cells - metabolism; T-Lymphocyte Subsets - cytology; T-Lymphocyte Subsets - immunology; T-Lymphocyte Subsets - metabolism
• ISSN: 0022-1767; 1550-6606
• DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1102808

The signals required to generate long-lived plasma cells remain unresolved. One widely cited model posits that long-lived plasma cells derive from germinal centers (GCs) in response to T cell-dependent (TD) Ags. Thus, T cell-independent (TI) Ags, which fail to sustain GCs, are considered ineffective at generating long-lived plasma cells. However, we show that long-lived hapten-specific plasma cells are readily induced without formation of GCs. Long-lived plasma cells developed in T cell-deficient mice after a single immunization with haptenated LPS, a widely used TI Ag. Long-lived plasma cells also formed in response to TD Ag when the GC response was experimentally prevented. These observations establish that long-lived plasma cells are induced in both TI and TD responses, and can arise independently of B cell maturation in GCs.