Impaired germinal center reaction in mice with short telomeres

Reduction of germinal center reactivity is a landmark of immunosenescence and contributes to immunological dysfunction in the elderly. Germinal centers (GC) are characterized by extensive clonal expansion and selection of B lymphocytes to generate the pool of memory B cells. Telomere maintenance by telomerase has been proposed to allow the extensive proliferation undergone by B lymphocytes in the GC during the immune response. We show here that late generation mTR −/− mice, which lack the mouse telomerase RNA (mTR) and have short telomeres, present a dramatic reduction in GC number following antigen immunization. Upon immunization with an antigen, wild‐type splenocyte telomeres are elongated and this is accompanied by a high expression of the telomerase catalytic subunit in the spleen GC. In contrast, telomerase‐deficient mTR −/− splenocytes show telomere shortening after immunization, presumably due to cell proliferation in the absence of telomerase. All together, these results demonstrate the importance of telomere maintenance for antibody‐mediated immune responses and support the notion that telomere elongation detected in wild‐type spleens following immunization is mediated by telomerase.