Antigen presentation by B cells guides programing of memory CD4(+) T-cell responses to a TLR4-agonist containing vaccine in mice.

The contribution of B cells to immunity against many infectious diseases is unquestionably important and well characterized. Here, we sought to determine the role of B cells in the induction of T helper 1 (TH1) CD4+ T cells upon vaccination with a tuberculosis (TB) antigen combined with a TLR4 agonist. We used B-cell deficient mice (μMT−/−), tetramer-positive CD4+ T cells, markers of memory ‘precursor’ effector cells (MPECs), and T-cell adoptive transfers and demonstrated that the early antigen-specific cytokine-producing TH1 responses are unaffected in the absence of B cells, however MPEC induction is strongly impaired resulting in a deficiency of the memory TH1 response in μMT−/- mice. We further show that antigen-presentation by B cells is necessary for their role in MPEC generation using B-cell adoptive transfers from wildtype or MHC class II knock-out mice into μMT−/− mice. Our study challenges the view that B-cell deficiency exclusively alters the TH1 response at memory time-points. Collectively, our results provide new insights on the multifaceted roles of B cells which will have a high impact on vaccine development against several pathogens including those requiring TH1 cell-mediated immunity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved