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T cells

Helper cell metamorphosis

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 9, pages 388–389 (2009)Cite this article

TFH cells are a subset of CD4+ T cells that are ideally located in the follicular centres of secondary lymphoid organs to support B cell responses and antibody class switching, but their relationship to other TH cell subsets remains unclear. Helminth infections induce a robust TH2 cell response involving the production of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and the antibody isotypes IgG1 and IgE. To explore a possible link between TH2 cells and antibody class switching mediated by TFH cells, both groups of authors used 4get–KN2 dual reporter mice, in which T cells producing IL-4 can be tracked. Both groups observed that after helminth infection, or after immunization with helminth antigens, most TH cells that were actively producing IL-4 in the lymph nodes were found in the B cell follicles and rarely in the outlying T cell areas. Moreover, these IL-4-producing T cells expressed markers that are characteristic of TFH cells, such as CXC-chemokine receptor 5 (CXCR5), inducible T cell co-stimulator (ICOS), programmed cell death 1 (PD1) and IL-21, as well as the TH2 cell-associated transcription factor GATA-binding protein 3 (GATA3).

Zaretsky et al. confirmed the relationship between TH2 cells and TFH cells using adoptive transfer experiments and showed that the conversion of transferred CXCR5−PD1−IL-4+CD4+ T cells into TFH cells only occurred in recipient mice that had a normal B cell repertoire and could support the formation of germinal centres.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. Zaretsky, A. G. et al. T follicular helper cells differentiate from Th2 cells in response to helminth antigens. J. Exp. Med. 20 Apr 2009 (doi: 10.1084/jem.20090303)

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  2. King, I. L. & Mohrs, M. IL-4–producing CD4+ T cells in reactive lymph nodes during helminth infection are T follicular helper cells. J. Exp. Med. 20 Apr 2009 (doi: 10.1084/jem.20090313)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Lucy Bird
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Bird, L. Helper cell metamorphosis. Nat Rev Immunol 9, 388–389 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri2577

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nri2577

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