Human follicular dendritic cells enhance cytokine-dependent growth and differentiation of CD40-activated B cells

Germinal centers constitute microanatomic subunits within secondary follicles where B cells undergo somatic mutations, isotype switch and affinity selection. This allows the generation of memory B cells and plasma cells, whose Igs bind to the eliciting Ag with a high affinity. T cells and follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) are thought to play key roles in the germinal center reaction. To study effects of FDCs on B cell growth and differentiation, we have isolated FDC-lymphocyte clusters from human tonsils by enzymatic digestion and centrifugation of the resulting cell suspension through BSA gradient. Irradiated FDC-lymphocyte clusters induced moderate proliferation of autologous B cells. IL-2 was the only cytokine able to enhance B cell proliferation cocultured with FDCs. When B cells were activated by soluble anti-CD40 Ab with or without IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-10 or IL-13, addition of FDCs increased B cell proliferation. In the presence of FDCs, maximal B cell proliferation was observed in anti-CD40 stimulated cultures supplemented with either IL-4 + IL-10 or IL-2 + IL-10. Cultures performed in the presence of IL-2 and IL-10 resulted in high levels of Ig production in the presence of FDCs. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that freshly isolated human FDCs can enhance the growth and differentiation of CD40-activated B cells.