%0 Journal Article
%T Age-associated alterations in CXCL1 chemokine expression by murine B cells
%A Lina Hu
%A Vishwa Dixit
%A Valeria de Mello-Coelho
%A Dennis D Taub
%J BMC Immunology
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2172-5-15
%X Here, we demonstrate that highly purified murine splenic B cells are capable of expressing both MIP-2 and KC protein and mRNA upon activation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) but not in response to anti-¦Ì and anti-CD40 in combination with interleukin-4 (IL-4) stimulation. Moreover, these chemokines are expressed at higher levels in B cells derived from young (4 m) compared to old (24¨C29 m) mice. Upon fractionation into distinct B-cell subsets, we found that the expression of MIP-2 and KC by aged follicular (FO) B cells is significantly decreased when compared to the same cells from younger mice, while only MIP-2 production was found to be diminished in aged marginal zone (MZ) B cells. Interestingly, MIP-2 and KC production by newly formed (NF) B cells did not significantly differ with age. Moreover, the potential relevance of these findings is supported by the poor ability of LPS-activated aged B cells to specifically mediate CXCL1-dependent leukocyte recruitment when compared to younger B cells.Overall, the decreased expression of CXCL1 chemokines by aged B cells in response to LPS may have potential implications on the secondary recruitment of leukocytes to sites of microbial infections and inflammation possibly contributing to the increased susceptibility of older subjects to pathogen challenge.Chemokines are a superfamily of small chemotactic proteins that have been classified into four major subfamilies, namely CXC, CC, C, and CX3C, based on the presence or absence and positional arrangement of N-terminal cysteine (C) residues [1-3]. One of the hallmarks of chemokine function is to facilitate trafficking and recirculation of immune cells from the circulation and tissues into secondary lymphatic organs and various peripheral tissues to maintain immune homeostasis in vivo [4]. These ligands also control the selective recruitment of specific leukocyte subsets to sites of inflammation and immune reactions. Besides migration, chemokines also induce the rapid activation
%K Chemokines
%K Aging
%K Lymphocytes
%K B cells
%K immunodeficiency
%K CXCL1
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2172/5/15