Regulation of TH2 development by CXCR5+ dendritic cells and lymphotoxin-expressing B cells

Abstract

In lymph nodes, cellular positioning can dictate the immune response. Lund and colleagues show that nematode infection triggers interactions between lymphotoxin-producing B cells and CXCR5+ dendritic cells and CD4+ T cells to initiate T helper type 2 responses. Although cognate encounters between antigen-bearing dendritic cells (DCs) that express the chemokine receptor CCR7 and CCR7+ naive T cells take place in the T cell zone of lymph nodes, it is unknown whether the colocalization of DCs and T cells in the T cell area is required for the generation of effector cells. Here we found that after infection with an intestinal nematode, antigen-bearing DCs and CD4+ T cells upregulated the chemokine receptor CXCR5 and localized together outside the T cell zone by a mechanism dependent on the chemokine CXCL13, B cells and lymphotoxin. Notably, lymphotoxin-expressing B cells, CXCR5-expressing DCs and T cells, and CXCL13 were also necessary for development of interleukin 4 (IL-4)-producing type 2 helper T cells (TH2 cells), which suggests that TH2 differentiation can initiate outside the T cell zone.