CD9 is a novel marker for plasma cell precursors in human germinal centers.

Sun-Ok Yoon, Xin Zhang, In Yong Lee, Nakia Spencer, Phuong Vo, Yong Sung Choi

Biochemical and biophysical research communications 2013 Feb 01

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The germinal center (GC) is the dynamic microenvironment where Ag-activated B cells rapidly expand and differentiate, generating plasma cells (PC) that produce high affinity antibodies. B cells within the GC have great heterogeneity, containing B cells at different stages of activation and differentiation. However, there are few surface markers that allow subsets of GC-B cells to be distinguished. In the present study, we show that GC-B cells in human tonsils contain two distinct populations regarding CD9 expression; CD9- and CD9+ cells. CD9+ GC-B cells are functionally more differentiated towards PC based upon the following evidence; (1) CD9+ cells express higher levels of PC transcription factor, Blimp-1 while lower levels of B cell transcription factors, Bcl-6 and Pax-5, compared to CD9- cells, (2) CD9+ cells differentiate into plasmablasts faster than CD9- cells in the presence of cytokines that generate PC, and (3) CD9 expression was induced in CD9- GC-B cells under PC generating condition and gradually increased in the course of PC differentiation. Taken together, our data suggest that CD9 is a novel marker for a human GC-B cell subset that is committed to PC lineage. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Citation

Sun-Ok Yoon, Xin Zhang, In Yong Lee, Nakia Spencer, Phuong Vo, Yong Sung Choi. CD9 is a novel marker for plasma cell precursors in human germinal centers. Biochemical and biophysical research communications. 2013 Feb 01;431(1):41-6