A GPR174–CCL21 module imparts sexual dimorphism to humoral immunity

Humoral immune responses to immunization and infection and susceptibilities to antibody-mediated autoimmunity are generally lower in males1–3. However, the mechanisms underlying such sexual dimorphism are not well understood. Here we show that there are intrinsic differences between the B cells that produce germinal centres in male and female mice. We find that antigen-activated male B cells do not position themselves as efficiently as female B cells in the centre of follicles in secondary lymphoid organs, in which germinal centres normally develop. Moreover, GPR174—an X-chromosome-encoded G-protein-coupled receptor—suppresses the formation of germinal centres in male, but not female, mice. This effect is intrinsic to B cells, and correlates with the GPR174-enhanced positioning of B cells towards the T-cell–B-cell border of follicles, and the distraction of male, but not female, B cells from S1PR2-driven follicle-centre localization. Biochemical fractionation of conditioned media that induce B-cell migration in a GPR174-dependent manner identifies CCL21 as a GPR174 ligand. In response to CCL21, GPR174 triggers a calcium flux and preferentially induces the migration of male B cells; GPR174 also becomes associated with more Gαi protein in male than in female B cells. Male B cells from orchidectomized mice exhibit impaired GPR174-mediated migration to CCL21, and testosterone treatment rescues this defect. Female B cells from testosterone-treated mice exhibit male-like GPR174–Gαi association and GPR174-mediated migration. Deleting GPR174 from male B cells causes more efficient positioning towards the follicular centre, the formation of more germinal centres and an increased susceptibility to B-cell-dependent experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. By identifying GPR174 as a receptor for CCL21 and demonstrating its sex-dependent control of B-cell positioning and participation in germinal centres, we have revealed a mechanism by which B-cell physiology is fine-tuned to impart sexual dimorphism to humoral immunity. Male and female B cells show differing abilities to localize and contribute to germinal centres, in a way that depends on the G-protein-coupled guidance receptor GPR174 and its chemokine ligand CCL21.