Antiviral memory B cells exhibit enhanced innate immune response facilitated by epigenetic memory.

Xiping Zhu, Sheng Hong, Jiachen Bu, Yingping Liu, Can Liu, Runhan Li, Tiantian Zhang, Zhuqiang Zhang, Liping Li, Xuyu Zhou, Zhaolin Hua, Bing Zhu, Baidong Hou

Science advances 2024 Mar 29

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The long-lasting humoral immunity induced by viral infections or vaccinations depends on memory B cells with greatly increased affinity to viral antigens, which are evolved from germinal center (GC) responses. However, it is unclear whether antiviral memory B cells represent a distinct subset among the highly heterogeneous memory B cell population. Here, we examined memory B cells induced by a virus-mimicking antigen at both transcriptome and epigenetic levels and found unexpectedly that antiviral memory B cells exhibit an enhanced innate immune response, which appeared to be facilitated by the epigenetic memory that is established through the memory B cell development. In addition, T-bet is associated with the altered chromatin architecture and is required for the formation of the antiviral memory B cells. Thus, antiviral memory B cells are distinct from other GC-derived memory B cells in both physiological functions and epigenetic landmarks.

Citation

Xiping Zhu, Sheng Hong, Jiachen Bu, Yingping Liu, Can Liu, Runhan Li, Tiantian Zhang, Zhuqiang Zhang, Liping Li, Xuyu Zhou, Zhaolin Hua, Bing Zhu, Baidong Hou. Antiviral memory B cells exhibit enhanced innate immune response facilitated by epigenetic memory. Science advances. 2024 Mar 29;10(13):eadk0858