FITC
Excitation: 490nm, Emission: 525nm
B cells recognize Ags on microorganisms both with their BCRs and TLRs. This innate recognition has the potential to alter the behavior of whole populations of B cells. We show in this study that in culture and in mice, MyD88-dependent activation of B cells via TLR2 or TLR9 causes the rapid loss of expression of CD62L by metalloproteinase-dependent shedding. Adoptive transfer of in vitro CpG-activated B cells showed them to be excluded from lymph nodes and Peyer's patches, but not the spleen. In vivo, both injection of CpG and systemic infection with Salmonella typhimurium caused the shedding of CD62L and the consequent focusing of B cell migration to the spleen and away from lymph nodes. We propose that wholesale TLR-mediated changes to B cell migration influence the development of immunity to pathogens carrying appropriate ligands.
Cortisone-resistant thymocytes (CRT) have been used as the experimental equivalent of medullary thymocytes for the past 15 yr. Studies with CRT have provided evidence that the medullary population is similar to mature T cells in phenotype and function and may therefore be the major source of thymus emigrants. However, we have recently demonstrated that CRT differ from medullary thymocytes in their expression of the homing receptor molecule recognized by the monoclonal antibody MEL-14. Thus, many CRT express high levels of the MEL-14-defined homing receptor, whereas medullary thymocytes are MEL-14- to MEL-14lo. In normal adult mice, only 1 to 3% of thymocytes are MEL-14hi; these cells are located exclusively in the cortex and many are phenotypically and functionally mature. In this study we have used dual immunofluorescence techniques to further characterize those thymocytes resistant to cortisone treatment. Aside from being of mature phenotype with respect to expression of peanut agglutinin binding sites and the cell surface molecules H-2K, Ly-1, Lyt-2, and L3T4, CRT can be divided into MEL-14lo and MEL-14hi subpopulations, suggesting that they may actually be derived from both the medullary and the MEL-14hi cortical thymocyte subsets.