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Mucosal immunology

Multifunctional gut IgA+ plasma cells

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 12, page 75 (2012)Cite this article

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Nitric oxide, produced by iNOS, is required for IgA class-switch recombination in the small-intestinal lamina propria of mice. While investigating the role of iNOS in the gut, the authors found a population of iNOS+ cells in intestinal lamina propria preparations from wild-type mice that was absent in mice lacking B cells. Further examination of these iNOS+ cells showed that they expressed IgA and had undergone class-switch recombination, suggesting that these particular iNOS+ cells are a unique subset of IgA+ plasma cells. Interestingly, these cells also produced TNF and expressed LY6C and LY6G, features usually associated with monocytic cells. Not all IgA+ cells expressed iNOS and/or TNF, but those that did had a different morphology and cellular IgA localization compared with IgA+iNOS−TNF− cells, suggesting that some B cells in the gut adopt a more monocyte-like phenotype as they differentiate into IgA+ plasma cells.

But how are these cells induced? The authors found that the microbiota was necessary for the expression of iNOS by IgA+ cells, and reconstitution of germ-free mice with a single bacterial species was sufficient for the induction of IgA+iNOS+ cells. Furthermore, only gut stroma from specific pathogen-free mice, and not bone marrow-derived stroma or gut stroma from germ-free mice, could support the development of IgA+iNOS+ cells in vitro.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Fritz, J. H. et al. Acquisition of a multifunctional IgA+ plasma cell phenotype in the gut. Nature 11 Dec 2011 (doi:10.1038/nature10698)

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  1. Olive Leavy
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Leavy, O. Multifunctional gut IgA+ plasma cells. Nat Rev Immunol 12, 75 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri3157

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