Neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) made of abnormally hyperphosphorylated tau are a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related tauopathies. Regional distribution of NFTs is associated with the progression of the disease and has been proposed to be a result of prion-like propagation of misfolded tau. Tau in AD brain is heterogenous and presents in various forms. In the present study, we prepared different tau fractions by sedimentation combined with sarkosyl solubility from AD brains and analyzed their biochemical and pathological properties. We found that tau in oligomeric fraction (O-tau), sarkosyl-insoluble fractions 1 and 2 (SI1-tau and SI2-tau) and monomeric heat-stable fraction (HS-tau) showed differences in truncation, hyperphosphorylation, and resistance to proteinase K. O-tau, SI1-tau, and SI2-tau, but not HS-tau, were hyperphosphorylated at multiple sites and contained SDS- and β-mercaptoethanol–resistant high molecular weight aggregates, which lacked the N-terminal portion of tau. O-tau and SI2-tau displayed more truncation and less hyperphosphorylation than SI1-tau. Resistance to proteinase K was increased from O-tau to SI1-tau to SI2-tau. O-tau and SI1-tau, but not SI2-tau or HS-tau, captured tau from cell lysates and seeded tau aggregation in cultured cells. Heat treatment could not kill the prion-like activity of O-tau to capture normal tau. Hippocampal injection of O-tau into 18-month-old FVB mice induced significant tau aggregation in both ipsilateral and contralateral hippocampi, but SI1-tau only induced tau pathology in the ipsilateral hippocampus, and SI2-tau and HS-tau failed to induce any detectable tau aggregation. These findings suggest that O-tau and SI1-tau have prion-like activities and may serve as seeds to recruit tau and template tau to aggregate, resulting in the propagation of tau pathology. Heterogeneity of tau pathology within AD brain results in different fractions with different biological and prion-like properties, which may pose a major challenge in targeting tau for development of effective therapeutic treatments.

Through multiple mechanisms, regulatory B cells (Breg) have been shown to play an important role in the development of allograft tolerance. However, a careful understanding of the role of antigen‐specificity in Breg‐mediated allograft tolerance has remained elusive. In experimental models of islet and cardiac transplantation, it has been established that Bregs can be induced in vivo by anti‐CD45RB ± anti‐TIM1antibody treatment, resulting in prolonged, Breg‐dependent allograft tolerance. The importance of Breg antigen recognition has been suggested but not confirmed through adoptive transfer experiments, using tolerant WT C57BL/6 animals challenged with either BALB/c or C3H grafts. However, the importance of receptor‐specificity has not been formally tested. Here, we utilize the novel ovalbumin‐specific B cell receptor transnuclear (OBI) mice in multiple primary tolerance and adoptive transfer experiments to establish that Breg‐dependent allograft tolerance relies on antigen recognition by B cells. Additionally, we identify that this Breg‐dependent tolerance relies on the function of transforming growth factor‐β. Together, these experiments mark important progress toward understanding how best to improve Breg‐mediated allograft tolerance.

Regulatory B cells (Bregs) have shown promise as anti‐rejection therapy applied to organ transplantation. However, less is known about their effect on other B cell populations that are involved in chronic graft rejection. We recently uncovered that naïve B cells, stimulated by TLR ligand agonists, converted into B cells with regulatory properties (Bregs‐TLR) that prevented allograft rejection. Here, we examine the granular phenotype and regulatory properties of Breg‐TLR cells suppressing B cells. Cocultures of Bregs‐TLR with LPS‐activated B cells showed a dose‐dependent suppression of targeted B cell proliferation. Adoptive transfers of Bregs‐TLR induced a decline in antibody responses to antigenically disparate skin grafts. The role of Breg BCR specificity in regulation was assessed using B cell‐deficient mice replenished with transgenic BCR (OB1) and TCR (OT‐II) lymphocytes of matching antigenic specificity. Results indicated that proliferation of OB1 B cells, mediated through help from CD4+ OT‐II cells, was suppressed by OB1 Bregs of similar specificity. Transcriptomic analyses indicated that Bregs‐TLR suppression is associated with a block in targeted B cell differentiation controlled by PRDM1 (Blimp1). This work uncovered the regulatory properties of a new brand of Breg cells and provided mechanistic insights into potential applications of Breg therapy in transplantation.

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