Journal article
Transcription factor IRF4 regulates germinal center cell formation through a B cell-intrinsic mechanism
SN Willis, KL Good-Jacobson, J Curtis, A Light, J Tellier, W Shi, GK Smyth, DM Tarlinton, GT Belz, LM Corcoran, A Kallies, SL Nutt
Journal of Immunology | Published : 2014
Abstract
In response to antigenic stimulation, mature B cells interact with follicular helper T cells in specialized structures called germinal centers (GCs), which leads to the development of memory B cells and Ab-secreting plasma cells. The transcription factor IFN regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is essential for the formation of follicular helper T cells and thus GCs, although whether IRF4 plays a distinct role in GC B cells remains contentious. RNAseq analysis on ex vivo-derived mouse B cell populations showed that Irf4 was lowly expressed in naive B cells, highly expressed in plasma cells, but absent from GC B cells. In this study, we used conditional deletion of Irf4 in mature B cells as well as wil..
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Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a program grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (575500), a Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation senior award, the Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support and Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council Independent Research Institute Infrastructure Support scheme. S.N.W. and K.L.G.-J. are supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council C.J. Martin fellowship; A.K., G.T.B., and S.L.N. by Australian Research Council Future fellowships; and G.K.S., D.M.T., and L.M.C. by National Health and Medical Research Council fellowships.