Immunoglobulin D enhances immune surveillance by activating antimicrobial, proinflammatory and B cell-stimulating programs in basophils

Summary, in English

Immunoglobulin D (IgD) is an enigmatic antibody isotype that mature B cells express together with IgM through alternative RNA splicing. Here we report active T cell-dependent and T cell-independent IgM-to-IgD class switching in B cells of the human upper respiratory mucosa. This process required activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) and generated local and circulating IgD-producing plasmablasts reactive to respiratory bacteria. Circulating IgD bound to basophils through a calcium-mobilizing receptor that induced antimicrobial, opsonizing, inflammatory and B cell-stimulating factors, including cathelicidin, interleukin 1 (IL-1), IL-4 and B cell-activating factor (BAFF), after IgD crosslinking. By showing dysregulation of IgD class-switched B cells and 'IgD-armed' basophils in autoinflammatory syndromes with periodic fever, our data indicate that IgD orchestrates an ancestral surveillance system at the interface between immunity and inflammation.

• Author: Kang Chen; Weifeng Xu; Melanie Wilson; Bing He; Norman W. Miller; Eva Bengten; Eva-Stina Edholm; Paul A. Santini; Poonam Rath; April Chiu; Marco Cattalini; Jiri Litzman; James B. Bussel; Bihui Huang; Antonella Meini; Kristian Riesbeck; Charlotte Cunningham-Rundles; Alessandro Plebani; Andrea Cerutti
• Department/s: Clinical Microbiology, Malmö
• Publishing year: 2009
• Language: English
• Pages: 121-889
• Publication/Series: Nature Immunology
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 8
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ni.1748
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Topic: Microbiology in the medical area
• Status: Published
• Research group: Clinical Microbiology, Malmö
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1529-2908