PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Jain, Rajiv W
AU  - Parham, Kate A
AU  - Tesfagiorgis, Yodit
AU  - Craig, Heather C
AU  - Romanchik, Emiliano
AU  - Kerfoot, Steven M
TI  - Autoreactive T cells preferentially drive differentiation of non-responsive memory B cells at the expense of germinal center maintenance
AID  - 10.1101/287789
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 287789
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/23/287789.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/03/23/287789.full
AB  - B cell fate decisions within a germinal center (GC) are critical to determining the outcome of the immune response to a given antigen. Here, we characterize GC kinetics and B cell fate choices in a response to the autoantigen myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), and compare them the response to a standard model foreign antigen (NP-haptenated ovalbumin, NPOVA). Both antigens generated productive primary responses, as evidenced by GC development, circulating antigen-specific antibodies, and differentiation of memory B cells. However, in the MOG response the status of the cognate T cell partner drove preferential B cell differentiation to a memory phenotype at the expense of GC maintenance, resulting in a truncated GC. Reduced plasma cell differentiation was largely independent of T cell influence. Interestingly, memory B cells formed in the MOG GC were unresponsive to secondary challenge and this could not be overcome with T cell help.