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Characterization of the Spleen B‐Cell Compartment at the Early and Late Blood‐Stage Plasmodium chabaudi Malaria
Author(s) -
CastilloMéndez S. I.,
Zago C. A.,
Sardinha L. R.,
Freitas do Rosário A. P.,
Álvarez J. M.,
D’Império Lima M. R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.2007.01972.x
Subject(s) - plasmodium chabaudi , compartment (ship) , spleen , malaria , stage (stratigraphy) , biology , plasmodium (life cycle) , plasmodium falciparum , immunology , virology , parasite hosting , parasitemia , history , paleontology , ancient history , world wide web , computer science
Abstract Polyclonal B‐cell activation is a feature of the early spleen cell response to blood‐stage Plasmodium chabaudi malaria. Immunity to blood‐stage malaria is guaranteed by the generation of B cells able to produce parasite‐specific antibodies mainly from the immunoglobulin (Ig)G2a isotype. In the present study, we characterized the spleen B‐cell compartment during blood‐stage P. chabaudi infection. The numbers of B220 + and B220 LOW CD138 + (plasma) cells increased sharply between days 4 and 7 post‐infection (p.i.). At this time B220 + cells expressed surface (s)IgM, but nearly all B220 LOW CD138 + cells showed concomitantly intracellular (i)IgM and IgG2a. Both follicular and marginal zone B cells were activated expressing high amounts of CD69. At day 40 p.i., B220 LOW CD138 + cell population was still increased but, differently from acute infection, 61.1% of these cells were positive for iIgG2a while only 14.2% expressed iIgM. Moreover, at days 20 and 40 p.i., 29.2% and 13.0% of B220 + cells expressed sIgG2a, respectively. According to cell size and expression of CD80, CD86, CD11b, CD44 and CD38, B220 + sIgG2a + cells had a phenotype characteristic of activated/memory B cells. Furthermore, 14.1% of B220 + sIgG2a + cells at day 30 p.i. expressed a marginal zone B‐cell phenotype. Importantly, B cells from 40‐day‐infected mice were very efficient in presenting parasite antigens leading to proliferation of both CD4 + and CD8 + cells. Our results contribute for understanding the dynamics of B cells during P. chabaudi infection, underlying the mechanisms of antigen presentation and antibody production, which are essential for the acquisition of protective immunity against malaria.