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1: PLoS Biol. 2005 Jun;3(6):e150. Epub 2005 May 3.
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Antigen-engaged B cells undergo chemotaxis toward the T zone and form motile conjugates with helper T cells.

Okada T, Miller MJ, Parker I, Krummel MF, Neighbors M, Hartley SB, O'Garra A, Cahalan MD, Cyster JG.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.

Interactions between B and T cells are essential for most antibody responses, but the dynamics of these interactions are poorly understood. By two-photon microscopy of intact lymph nodes, we show that upon exposure to antigen, B cells migrate with directional preference toward the B-zone-T-zone boundary in a CCR7-dependent manner, through a region that exhibits a CCR7-ligand gradient. Initially the B cells show reduced motility, but after 1 d, motility is increased to approximately 9 microm/min. Antigen-engaged B cells pair with antigen-specific helper T cells for 10 to more than 60 min, whereas non-antigen-specific interactions last less than 10 min. B cell-T cell conjugates are highly dynamic and migrate extensively, being led by B cells. B cells occasionally contact more than one T cell, whereas T cells are strictly monogamous in their interactions. These findings provide evidence of lymphocyte chemotaxis in vivo, and they begin to define the spatiotemporal cellular dynamics associated with T cell-dependent antibody responses.

Publication Types:
PMID: 15857154 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC1088276