Cognate interactions : extrafollicular IL-4 drives germinal-center reactions, a new role for an old cytokine
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Authors
Colleges, School and Institutes
Abstract
Over the past 25 years it has become clear that B and T lymphocytes go through a range of interactions and migratory events when B cells differentiate to become high-affinity, antibody-secreting cells. This B-cell differentiation is associated with multiple sequential cognate interactions. In this issue of the European Journal of Immunology, Turqueti-Neves et al. [Eur. J. Immunol. 2014. 44: 2130–2138] show that IL-4, a cytokine well known as a regulator of Ig class switch recombination, has another as-yet-unappreciated role. The authors show that IL-4 produced by T-helper cells outside germinal centers has a major effect on the early stages of germinal-center B-cell differentiation. This Commentary will summarize their findings and relate them to what we know on the sequence of cognate interactions and migratory events B cells undergo during T-dependent immune responses.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1917-1920 |
Journal | European Journal of Immunology |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 7 |
Early online date | 16 Jul 2014 |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2014 |
Keywords
- B cells, Germinal center, IL-4, IL-13, STAT6