| First Author | Belnoue E | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | Blood | Volume | 111 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 2755-64 |
| PubMed ID | 18180376 | Mgi Jnum | J:131537 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3773940 | Doi | 10.1182/blood-2007-09-110858 |
| Citation | Belnoue E, et al. (2008) APRIL is critical for plasmablast survival in the bone marrow and poorly expressed by early-life bone marrow stromal cells. Blood 111(5):2755-64 |
| abstractText | The persistence of serum IgG antibodies elicited in human infants is much shorter than when such responses are elicited later in life. The reasons for this rapid waning of antigen-specific antibodies elicited in infancy are yet unknown. We have recently shown that adoptively transferred tetanus toxoid (TT)-specific plasmablasts (PBs) efficiently reach the bone marrow (BM) of infant mice. However, TT-specific PBs fail to persist in the early-life BM, suggesting that they fail to receive the molecular signals that support their survival/differentiation. Using a proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL)- and B-cell activating factor (BAFF) B-lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS)-deficient mice, we demonstrate here that APRIL is a critical factor for the establishment of the adult BM reservoir of anti-TT IgG-secreting cells. Through in vitro analyses of PB/plasma cell (PC) survival/differentiation, we show that APRIL induces the expression of Bcl-X(L) by a preferential binding to heparan sulfate proteoglycans at the surface of CD138(+) cells. Last, we identify BM-resident macrophages as the main cells that provide survival signals to PBs and show that this function is slowly acquired in early life, in parallel to a progressive acquisition of APRIL expression. Altogether, this identifies APRIL as a critical signal for PB survival that is poorly expressed in the early-life BM compartment. |
