| First Author | Lüthje K | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | Nat Immunol | Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 491-8 |
| PubMed ID | 22466669 | Mgi Jnum | J:185372 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5428367 | Doi | 10.1038/ni.2261 |
| Citation | Luthje K, et al. (2012) The development and fate of follicular helper T cells defined by an IL-21 reporter mouse. Nat Immunol 13(5):491-8 |
| abstractText | Germinal centers require CD4(+) follicular helper T cells (TFH cells), whose hallmark is expression of the transcriptional repressor Bcl-6, the chemokine receptor CXCR5 and interleukin 21 (IL-21). To track the development and fate of TFH cells, we generated an IL-21 reporter mouse by introducing sequence encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the Il21 locus; these mice had expression of IL-21-GFP in CD4(+)CXCR5(+)PD-1(+) TFH cells. IL-21-GFP(+) TFH cells were multifunctional helper cells that coexpressed several cytokines, including interferon-g (IFN-g), IL-2 and IL-4. TFH cells proliferated and gave rise to transferrable memory cells with plasticity, which differentiated after recall into conventional effector helper T cells and TFH cells. Thus, we demonstrated that TFH cells were not terminally differentiated but instead retained the flexibility to be recruited into other helper T cell subsets and nonlymphoid tissues. |
