Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

The dynamic profile and potential function of B-cell subsets during pregnancy

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 18, pages 1082–1084 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

As the main antibody-producing and antigen-presenting cells, B cells play critical roles in autoimmune diseases, tumors, and transplantation. Recently, the immunoregulatory functions of B cells have attracted attention and have been extensively studied in these fields. As a specific physiological status, pregnancy shares some common immunological characteristics with these diseases. Although many immune cells, such as natural killer cells, macrophages, and T cells, have been well studied during pregnancy, research focusing on B cells and their subsets during pregnancy has just begun.

TrB cells represent a unique subset of B cells at an intermediate stage between bone marrow immature B cells and peripheral mature B cells, and these cells are also known as human regulatory B cells (Bregs, with the immunoregulatory function of high IL-10 production).3 Although there is a low percentage of TrB cells in peripheral blood, alterations in the frequency or function of TrB cells are associated with various autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, and some neuroimmunological diseases. However, the paradoxical roles (promoting or alleviating disease progression) played in different autoimmune diseases may depend on the different subtypes of TrB cells.3 Although there is a low percentage of TrB cells in the early decidua, this percentage increases up to 20% of the total B-cell population in the term decidua basalis.4 Compared with that of gestational age-matched controls, the reduced percentage of decidual TrB cells in women with preterm birth might suggest a protective role in late pregnancy.4

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1

References

  1. Zirakzadeh, A. A., Marits, P., Sherif, A. & Winqvist, O. Multiplex B cell characterization in blood, lymph nodes, and tumors from patients with malignancies. J. Immunol. 190, 5847–5855 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Wang, S. S. et al. Tumor-infiltrating B cells: their role and application in anti-tumor immunity in lung cancer. Cell Mol. Immunol. 16, 6–18 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhou, Y. et al. Transitional B cells involved in autoimmunity and their impact on neuroimmunological diseases. J. Transl. Med. 18, 131 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Leng, Y. et al. Are B cells altered in the decidua of women with preterm or term labor? Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. 81, e13102 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Lundell, A. C. et al. IFN type I and II induce BAFF secretion from human decidual stromal cells. Sci. Rep. 7, 39904 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Turner, J. S., Marthi, M., Benet, Z. L. & Grigorova, I. Transiently antigen-primed B cells return to naive-like state in absence of T-cell help. Nat. Commun. 8, 15072 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Reichardt, P. et al. Naive B cells generate regulatory T cells in the presence of a mature immunologic synapse. Blood 110, 1519–1529 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Weisel, F. & Shlomchik, M. Memory B cells of mice and humans. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 35, 255–284 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Dutta, S., Sengupta, P. & Haque, N. Reproductive immunomodulatory functions of B cells in pregnancy. Int. Rev. Immunol. 39, 53–66 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Diener, K. R., Robertson, S. A., Hayball, J. D. & Lousberg, E. L. Multi-parameter flow cytometric analysis of uterine immune cell fluctuations over the murine estrous cycle. J. Reprod. Immunol. 113, 61–67 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Guzman-Genuino, R. M., Eldi, P., Garcia-Valtanen, P., Hayball, J. D. & Diener, K. R. Uterine B cells exhibit regulatory properties during the peri-implantation stage of murine pregnancy. Front. Immunol. 10, 2899 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Lin, X. et al. IL-10-producing regulatory B cells restrain the T follicular helper cell response in primary Sjogren’s syndrome. Cell. Mol. Immunol. 16, 921–931 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Schumacher, A. et al. Plasma cell alloantigen 1 and IL-10 secretion define two distinct peritoneal B1a B Cell subsets with opposite functions, PC1(high) cells being protective and PC1(low) cells harmful for the growing fetus. Front. Immunol. 9, 1045 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Muzzio, D. O. et al. B-1a B cells regulate T cell differentiation associated with pregnancy disturbances. Front. Immunol. 5, 6 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Wang, H. et al. Expression of plasma cell alloantigen 1 defines layered development of B-1a B-cell subsets with distinct innate-like functions. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 109, 20077–20082 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Huang, B. et al. Interleukin-33-induced expression of PIBF1 by decidual B cells protects against preterm labor. Nat. Med. 23, 128–135 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from the National Key Research & Developmental Program of China (2018YFC1003900 and 2018YFC1003904).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Liling Wang, Panpan Jiang

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Reproductive Health, Center for Reproductive Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China

    Liling Wang, Sijia Zhao, Hong Liu, Gil Mor & Aihua Liao

  2. Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China

    Panpan Jiang & Chaohong Liu

  3. Wuhan Children Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China

    Liping Liu

  4. C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA

    Gil Mor

Authors
  1. Liling Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Panpan Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sijia Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hong Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Liping Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gil Mor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Chaohong Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Aihua Liao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chaohong Liu or Aihua Liao.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, L., Jiang, P., Zhao, S. et al. The dynamic profile and potential function of B-cell subsets during pregnancy. Cell Mol Immunol 18, 1082–1084 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-020-00535-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-020-00535-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links