AUTHOR=Chevrier Stephane , Genton Celine , Malissen Bernard , Malissen Marie , Acha-Orbea Hans TITLE=Dominant Role of CD80–CD86 Over CD40 and ICOSL in the Massive Polyclonal B Cell Activation Mediated by LATY136F CD4+ T Cells JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology VOLUME=3 YEAR=2012 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2012.00027 DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2012.00027 ISSN=1664-3224 ABSTRACT=

Coordinated interactions between T and B cells are crucial for inducing physiological B cell responses. Mutant mice in which tyrosine 136 of linker for activation of T cell (LAT) is replaced by a phenylalanine (Lat^Y136F) exhibit a strong CD4⁺ T cell proliferation in the absence of intended immunization. The resulting effector T cells produce high amounts of T_H2 cytokines and are extremely efficient at inducing polyclonal B cell activation. As a consequence, these Lat^Y136F mutant mice showed massive germinal center formations and hypergammaglobulinemia. Here, we analyzed the involvement of different costimulators and their ligands in such T–B interactions both in vitro and in vivo, using blocking antibodies, knockout mice, and adoptive transfer experiments. Surprisingly, we showed in vitro that although B cell activation required contact with T cells, CD40, and inducible T cell costimulator molecule-ligand (ICOSL) signaling were not necessary for this process. These observations were further confirmed in vivo, where none of these molecules were required for the unfolding of the LAT CD4⁺ T cell expansion and the subsequent polyclonal B cell activation, although, the absence of CD40 led to a reduction of the follicular B cell response. These results indicate that the crucial functions played by CD40 and ICOSL in germinal center formation and isotype switching in physiological humoral responses are partly overcome in Lat^Y136F mice. By comparison, the absence of CD80–CD86 was found to almost completely block the in vitro B cell activation mediated by Lat^Y136F CD4⁺ T cells. The role of CD80–CD86 in T–B cooperation in vivo remained elusive due to the upstream implication of these costimulatory molecules in the expansion of Lat^Y136F CD4⁺ T cells. Together, our data suggest that CD80 and CD86 costimulators play a key role in the polyclonal B cell activation mediated by Lat^Y136F CD4⁺ T cells even though additional costimulatory molecules or cytokines are likely to be required in this process.