Appearance of immature/transitional B cells in HIV-infected individuals with advanced disease: correlation with increased IL-7. Malaspina A, Moir S, Ho J, Wang W, Howell ML, O'Shea MA, Roby GA, Rehm CA, Mican JM, Chun TW, Fauci AS. Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and Office of Clinical Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. PNAS 2006 Feb 14;103(7):2262-7.
Progression of HIV disease is associated with the appearance of numerous B cell defects. We describe herein a population of immature/transitional B cells that is overly represented in the peripheral blood of individuals with advancing HIV disease. These B cells, identified by the expression of CD10, were unresponsive by proliferation to B cell receptor triggering and possessed a phenotype and an Ig diversity profile that confirmed their immature/transitional stage of differentiation. Consistent with an immature status, their lack of proliferation to B cell receptor triggering was reversed with CD40 ligand, but not B cell activation factor. Finally, levels of CD10 expression on B cells were directly correlated with serum levels of IL-7, suggesting that increased levels of IL-7 modulate human B cell maturation either directly or indirectly by means of a homeostatic effect on lymphopenia. Taken together, these data offer insight into human B cell development as well as B cell dysfunction in advanced HIV disease.
Idiopathic CD4+ T lymphocytopenia is associated with increases in immature/transitional B cells and serum levels of IL-7. Malaspina A, Moir S, Chaitt DG, Rehm CA, Kottilil S, Falloon J, Fauci AS. Laboratory of Immunoregulation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Blood. 2007 Mar 1;109(5):2086-8.
Idiopathic CD4+ T lymphocytopenia (ICL) is a rare heterogeneous disorder defined by CD4+ T-cell counts below 300 cells/muL in the absence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or other known immune deficiency disorders. Here, we report the expansion of immature/transitional B cells in patients with ICL, which is . Both the percentage of immature/transitional B cells and levels of IL-7 were inversely correlated with levels of CD4+ T-cell counts and directly correlated to each other. Further analyses of B cells indicated that, in contrast to the activating effects of HIV disease on mature B cells, the expansion of immature/transitional B cells in patients with ICL occurred at the expense of memory B cells. These findings extend previous reports on primary immunodeficiencies as well as HIV disease by suggesting that CD4+ T-cell lymphopenia has an impact on human B-cell development either directly or indirectly via the associated elevation of IL-7 levels.
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