Prelim 3 Flashcards
Where are B and T cells derived from?
- Multipotent (pluripotent) hematopoietic stem cell
- Common lymphoid progenitor
CAN EITHER:
Bone marrow- commit and develop into B cell
Thymus- commit and develop into T cell
What are the different phases of B cell/T cell development and action
- Commit (to B or T lineage)
- Become useful: antigen receptor repertoire assembly, + and - Selection
- Search for infection
- Find infection (activate)
- Attack infection (differentiate and act)
Commitment
In reference to B cells and T cells, is the irreversible change in gene expression by a common lymphoid progenitor cell (CLP) that sends it down a B cell lineage or a T cell lineage
Where do B cells and T cells arise (commit)?
They commit in primary lymphoid tissues (thymus for T cells; bone marrow for B cells)
What are other places according to a B or T cell?
- Secondary lymphoid tissues (spleen, lymph nodes, Peyer’s Patches, etc.) to activate and differentiate
- Periphery - everywhere else in the body, to defend or instruct tissue cells
Where do the different stages occur in B cells?
- Commit : Bone marrow
- Become useful : Bone marrow and periphery (secondary lymphoid tissues)
- Search for infection : Secondary lymphoid tissues
- Find infection : Secondary lymphoid tissues
- Attack infection : Bone marrow and Secondary lymph nodes and periphery
How do bone marrow stromal cells help differentiation
Bone marrow stromal cells provide signals that induce master transcription factors (TFs) and proliferation of developing B cells
1. cell adhesion molecules (CAMs, and VCAM-1 (VLA-4 on CLP binds to this)
2. Growth factors (cytokines) SCF (Stem-Cell Factor) and IL-7 (to induce gene expression)
What does the CLP have that binds VCAM-1?
VLA-4
What does the CLP have that binds SCF?
Kit
What does the CLP have that binds IL-7?
IL-7 Receptor
Stromal cell
A supportive cell in a tissue that provides surface molecules and cytokines for developing an immune cell. In this example, it’s a bone marrow stromal cell of long bones, like the femur, that support immature B cells
Commit
Use master transcription factors and sets of genes that lock a stem cell into a particular lineage, like B or T lineage
Master Transcription Factor (MTF)
Binds a common gene promoter on a related set of genes. The genes are expressed and confer certain capabilities to the cell
What are the TF that commit the cell to the B lineage?
- Ikaros, PU.1 (From lymphoid progenitor–> immature B cell)
- E2A (later Lymphoid progenitor –> Immature B cell)
- FOX01, EBF (mid Early pro-B cell –> Immature B cell)
- PAX5/BSAP (Late pro-B cell –> Immature B cell)
B cell CLP
- Ikarus, PU.1 bc of adhesion molecules
Early pro-B cell
- Ikarus, PU.1 , E2A, FOX01, EBF
because of adhesion molecules but now you also have SCF with Kit
Late pro-B cell
- Ikarus PU.1, E2A, FOX01/EBF, PAX5/BSAP
because of adhesion molecules, SCF with Kit, adn now IL-7 with the receptor
Pre-B cell
Has all the TF and all the adhesion molecules, IL-7, and SCFz
Marker for all stem cells (pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell)
CD34
Marker for Common lymphoid Progenitor
- CD34
- CD10*
Marker for B cell precursor
- CD34
- CD10
- CD127*
Marker for Pro-B cell
- CD34
- CD10
- CD127
- CD19*
What is the marker for all B cells?
CD19
Pro-B Cell
Earliest identifiable cell of the B cell lineage. Has pan-B marker, CD19, but still has the CD34 stem cell marker. It does not have a B cell receptor yet
Germline
The Ig gene is not rearranged yet
Somatic recombination
Recombination of DNA segments of genes encoding antigen receptors in immature B and T cells
Different types of B cell
Stem Cell
Early pro-B cell
Late pro-B cell
Large pre-B cell
Small pre-B cell
Immature B cell
Mature B cell
Stem Cell (recombination)
H-chain genes: germline
L-chain genes: germline
Surface Ig: Absent
Early pro-B cell
H-chain genes: D-J rearranging
L-chain genes: germline
Surface Ig: Absent
Late pro-B cell
H-chain genes: V-DJ rearranging
L-chain genes: germline
Surface Ig: Absent
Large pre-B cell
H-chain genes: VDJ rearranged
L-chain genes: germline
Surface Ig: IgM chain transiently at surface as part of a pre-B cell receptor. Mainly intracellular
(the reason why is because we have to see if the heavy chain is successful in sending a signal)
(* there is a picture you should remember for this point)
Small pre-B cell
H-chain genes: VDJ rearranged
L-chain genes: V-J rearranging
Surface Ig: Intracellular IgM chain
Immature B cell
H-chain genes: VDJ rearranged
L-chain genes: VJ rearranged
Surface Ig: IgM expressed on cell surface
Mature B cell
H-chain genes: VDJ rearranged
L-chain genes: VJ rearranged
Surface Ig: IgD and IgM made from alternatively spliced H-chain transcripts
What are the different stages for a T cell? (same as B cell)
- Commit (to T lineage)
- Become useful, antigen receptor repertore assembly (+ and - Selection)
- Search for infection
- Find infection (activate)
- Attack infection (differentiate and act)
Where do the different stages for a T cell occur
- Commit: Thymus
- Become useful: Thymus
- Search for infection: Secondary lymph node
- Find infection: Secondary lymph nodes
- Attack infection: periphery, secondary lymph nodes
*the only places this differs from a B cell is the become useful bc this happens in the thymus but for the B cell it is in the thymus and the periphery and the attack infection occurs in periphery and secondary lymph node not in the bone marrow, periphery, and secondary lymph node
Where do certain lymphoid progenitors go to become T cells?
Common lymphoid progenitors (CLPs) travel through the bloodstream and enter the thymus. This is the only site that holds the necessary cues to commit to the T lineage
(there are no cues for B cell development in teh thymus, so, no B cells develop here).
(T) Pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell –> common lymphoid progenitor –>
DN1 T cell progenitor
DN2 pro-T cell
(B) Pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell –> common lymphoid progenitor –>
B cell precursor
Pro-B cell
What is the thymus?
- A network of stromal cells to support developing T cells
- THe thymus is a T-cell making factory
T cell stromal cells example
In this example, the non-immune stromal cells are epithelial cells that supply Notch Ligand and present self-peptides for selection of immature T cells. Immune cells that help at some steps are macrophages and DCs that present self-peptides, too
What supplies Notch ligand?
Thymic epithelial cells
- Notch ligand is only supplied in the thymus
- It liberates a ready-made transcription factor, Notch 1, in CLPs. Then, Notch 1 drives genes that commit the cell to the T lineage
Which cells have Notch1?
Common Lymphoid Progenitors. The notch gets cleaved by Notch Ligand on thymic epithelial cells
Thymocyte
Another name for developing T cells in the thymus
Thymic epithelial cell
Stromal support cell for many stages of developing T cells. Provides adhesion molecules (not shown), notch ligand, and presented MHC and self-peptides during selection
What are the different T cells during development
- ETP or DN1 –> DN
- Pro-T (DN2) –> DN
- Small pre-T (DN3) –> DN
- Large pre-T (DN4) –> DN
- CD4 and CD8 –> DP
- CD4, CD8, and TCR –> DP
- Single positive`
DP
Late-stage pre-T cells express both CD4 and CD8 co-receptors
Single positive
T cells that express CD4 or CD8, but not both. They are the final stage of immature T cells in the thymus
Transcription Factors for T cell & when they are expressed
- TCF1 (expressed the whole time)
- GATA3 (expressed the whole time)
- Bcl11b (Pro-T/DN2 cell to the end)
- KLF2 (Single positive)
- ThPOK* (Single positive encodes CD4)
- Runx3* (Single positive encodes CD8)
Thymus disappears over a lifetime
- Most mature T cells are made in a person by the time they have reached their twenties
- The mature T cells patrol and slowly renew themselves by homeostatic proliferation
3 Properties of a useful B cell or T cell
- Express functional antigen receptor complexes that transmit intracellular signals
- Respond to only ONE antigen (functionally monospecific)
- Be self-tolerant (not react destructively to self-antigens)
A useful T cell has a 4th property
4. MHC-restricted: only bind antigens that are presented by MHC molecules
- Express functional antigen receptor complexes that transmit signals
What are the two functions of antigen receptors?
Antigen receptors bind antigen and transmit intracellular signals
Antigen receptor complex
The antigen receptor plus the invariant chains that transmit intracellular signals. For a T cell this includes CD3 chains. For a B cell, this includes Ig-alpha and beta chains
Is the coreceptor of a T cell part of the antigen receptor complex?
NOT PART OF THE TCR complex. But the co-receptors is brought close to the antigen receptor complex to bring kinases for stronger intracellular singals
How many molecules make up the B cell coreceptor
It is made up of 3 molecules: CD19, CD21, and CD81. NOT part of the BCR but brings signaling kinases (very important you remember what they bring)
- Bind to ONE antigen only (functionally monospecific)
- If an antigen is repeated on a surface (like a multivalent Ag), it will cluster BCR complexes tht have the same specificity. (Pathogens often have repeating antigens on their cell wall)
- Clustering BCRs gather intracellular signaling enzymes and transmits a VERY STRONG activation signal
How to be monospecific?
ONLY rearrange and express 1 chromosomal copy of heavy chain and one copy of light chain (remember there are many possibilities and combinations that can exist). For a T cell its 1 copy of an alpha gene and 1 copy of a beta gene. This important control is called allelic exclusion.
- Be self-tolerant (don’t attack self antigens)
- Many immature B cells and immature T cells have antigen receptors that bind to self-antigens. The reason that antigen binding regions are generated by random somatic recombination and mutation
- To prevent self-reactive cells from attacking the body, they’re eliminated or r-programmed before they are allowed to mature. This is negative selection
What is negative selection essentially?
Negative selection is the removal of cells that bind to self antigen. Positive selection is reinforcing/keeping cells alive that are useful.
How many cells does negative selection eliminate
About 75% of immature B cells and T cells
- MHC-restricted T cell receptor will only bind antigens presented by MHC molecules
T cells only interact with host cells…not directly with the microbes
So, useful T cells must be able to bind the classical MHC molecules that present peptides.
An early pro-B cell is rearranging…
D and J segments
A late pro-B cell is rearranging…
V to DJ segments
A large pre-B cell has…
A pre-BCR complex and tests it!
Successful onces become many identical small pre-B cells
*remember L-chain is still not being touched here
What does the pre-BCR use to bind to the recombined heavy chain?
It uses the surrogate chain (L-chain) which is comprised of VpreB and lambda5
Is somatic recombination often successful on its first try?
No
How does the B cell go about rearranging the heavy chain loci? (diagram)
- There are 2 chromosomal copies of heavy chain loci to rearrange. A pro-B cell tries both simultaneously
- D-J rearrangements on both chromosomes
+ V-DJ rearrangement on first chromosme –>
+ Signaled to survive and become pre-B cell (50%
of cells)
- V-DJ rearrangement on second chromosome
–>
+ Signaled and become pre-B cells (50% of cells)
- Signaled to die by apoptosis (50% of all cells)
Essentially, there are two chromosomal copies of the heavy chain. They both have their D-J chain arranged at the start. The b cell will choose one chromosome and try to attach the V-DJ. If this is successful and it is transmits a signal it will receive signals to survive. If this is unsuccessful, the B cell will use the second chromosomal copy to attach teh V-DJ. If this is successful, then the cell survives. If this isn’t successful , then the whole B cell is signaled to kill itself by apoptosis.
Non-productive DNA rearrangement at both loci=death
Adding and deleting nucleotides has many errors that create DNA that can’t be transcribed due to nonsense. codons, premature stop codons or codons in the wrong reading frame (CPR)
Quality Checkpoint 1
Check heavy chain function
- Can the heavy chain assembly into a pre-B cell complex that transmits a signal?
If quality checkpoint 1 is successful, what are the three signals that happen to the cell?
1) NOT die by programmed cell death
2) Pause somatic recombination (of the other VDJ segment)
3) Proliferate
NPP
What does a working heavy chain do?
The new mu heavy chain hinds to Ig-alpha and a surrogate light chain (VpreB and lamdba5)
The fingers of bound VpreB will grab each other and cluster BCR complexes to transmit signals
What is the first instruction and what determines of these cells will die even if they do work?
The first instruction is to not die!
If immature lymphocytes don’t earn timely survival signals using working antigen receptors, they automatically die
What is the second instruction and what happens as a result of it?
The second instruction is to pause somatic recombination
- STOP expressing recombinase (RAG) genes
- DEGRADE any existing RAG protein
- SILENCE the other heavy chain locus with chromatin to make it permanently inaccessible
–> this causes allelic exclusion and is why B cells are monospecific.
What is the third instruction and what staged-B cell does that end up making?
The 3rd signal sent by a pre-BCR complex is to make many copies of this successful cell!
Makes ~100 identical daughter cells (small pre-B cells) that have identical mu heavy chains
Somatic recombination of kappa light chain locus
- Each small pre-B cell rearranges V and J of k light chain gene
- Successful onces become different immature B cells
Which light chain will the B cell start with?
It will always start by creating one of the two kappa light chains
Successive rearrangement and why most pre-B cells successfully express a light chain
Most small pre-B cells successfully express a light chain. WHY? The segments are arranged for successive rearrangements tries and there are 4 light chain loci to use.
It will try all the different ways of rearranging that kappa chain. If it doesn’t work, it will try the next kappa chain loci. If that doesn’t work, it will try the lambda chain loci. If that doesn’t work, it will try the second lambda chain loci. Usually, it works from rearranging the first kappa a few times
2nd Quality Check
Does the heavy and light chain work?
The light chain is assembled into a BCR complex and transported to the cell surface with Ig-alpha and B
What signals does the B cell recieve if it succeeds in the 2nd Quality Check?
1) NOT to die
2) STOP somatic recombination
3) MIGRATE towards the exit of the bone marrow
At the stage of fulfilling the second quality check, what kind of B cell is this?
An immature B cell
3rd Quality Checkpoint
NEGATIVE SELECTION
At this point, there’s a very diverse pool of immature B cells moving through the bone marrow on their way out. They can bind antigen.
Negative selection will eliminate immature B cells that bind self-antigens (about 75% of immature B cells which is very wastefu)
Selection of B cells happens in _____ ___ for many ___
Selection of B cells happens in multiple places for many days
Where does negative selection of B cells occur?
- Bone marrow: Self antigens are shown and any immature B cell that binds have 2 options (rearrange a new light chain or die)
- Circulation: transitional B cells traveling in blood that bind soluble self-antigens are deactivated (anergized)
- Secondary lymphoid tissues: final chance for transitional B cells to bind self-antigen and be deactivated (anergized) or die from lack of survival signals. Stromal cells in follicles provide cytokines for survival/maturation (positive signal)
Can transitional B cells also die from a lack of survival signal?
Yes, even if they aren’t anergized because they didn’t bind antigen, if they don’t receive the positive signal in time, they will die.
Where does positive selection of B cells occur?
In the Secondary Lymphoid tissue. They recieve signals/cytokines from stromal cells
What is the direction of migration for a transitional B cell?
Out of the bone marrow, through the blood, to the secondary lymphoid tissue
What happens to B cells that bind antigen in the bone marrow
They are held there and they are given two options. Die by apoptosis, or change their light chain by receptor editing
Receptor Editing
(recombining more V and J segments to create a different antigen receptor) is triggered by multivalent antigens that send strong signals to B cells in an immature state via cross-linked B cell receptors.
A light chain with try 2k and 2lambda chain until all the segments are used up.
Can rearrange as may times as possible until time runs out and it dies
Central tolerance
Is due to receptor editing or deletion of self-reactive, immature B cells in the bone marrow which is a central lymphoid organ (not binding antigen in the bone marrow)
*comparable to self tolerance
Why does negative selection of transitional B cells continue for a while in the blood and spleen?
To test self antigens that aren’t in teh bone marrow like thyroid hormones
There is no option for receptor editing outside of the bone marrow. Those recombinases are silences in most tissues because they are so dangerous. Therefore, self-reactive, immature transitional B cells are deleted
Peripheral tolerance (THERE IS A VERY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION HERE)
Elimination or inactivation of new self-reactive immature (transitional) B cells in the bloodstream and secondary lymphoid organs like the spleen. These are considered the periphery of the body as opposed to the central lymphoid organs
4th Quality Checkpoint
Immature transitional B cells are still on a stopwatch of death. They must touch certain cells within secondary lymphoid organs or die in a matter of days. If they can, they will mature and patrol secondary lymphoid tissues.
Transitional B cell
Immature B cells newly emerged from the bone marrow and have days to live
What is the 4th signal the transitional B cell must get to survive?
They must enter follicles in the spleen or lymph nodes where STROMAL follicular dendritic cells provide the survival cytokine, BAFF
Mature B cell
B cell that has gained access to BAFF in follicles as a final survivor and maturation signal (positively selected)
Does every B cell touch BAFF?
No, even if they are perfectly good
What are the two classes of T cells that can develop in the thymus?
- Alpha beta T cells
- Gamma delta T cells
For the sake of this class, we will be focusing on alpha beta T cells
Are the majority of cells alpha beta or gamma delta T cells?
the vast majority, 70-80% are alpha beta