We previously reported that some of the rare broadly reactive, HIV-1 neutralizing antibodies are polyreactive, leading to the hypothesis that induction of these types of neutralizing antibody may be limited by immunologic tolerance. However, the notion that such antibodies are sufficiently autoreactive to trigger B cell tolerance is controversial. To test directly whether rare neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies can activate immunologic tolerance mechanisms, we generated a knock-in mouse in which the Ig heavy chain (HC) variable region rearrangement (V H DJ H ) from the polyreactive and broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibody 2F5 was targeted into the mouse Igh locus. In vitro, this insertion resulted in chimeric human/mouse 2F5 antibodies that were functionally similar to the human 2F5 antibody, including comparable reactivity to human and murine self-antigens. In vivo, the 2F5 V H DJ H insertion supported development of large-and small pre-B cells that expressed the chimeric human/mouse Igμ chain but not the production of immature B cells expressing membrane IgM. The developmental arrest exhibited in 2F5 V H DJ H knock-in mice is characteristic of other knock-in strains that express the Ig HC variable region of autoreactive antibodies and is consistent with the loss of immature B cells bearing 2F5 chimeric antibodies to central tolerance mechanisms. Moreover, homozygous 2F5 V H DJ H knock-in mice support reduced numbers of residual splenic B cells with low surface IgM density, severely diminished serum IgM levels, but normal to elevated quantities of serum IgGs that did not react with autoantigens. These features are consistent with elimination of 2F5 HC autoreactivity by additional negative selection mechanism(s) in the periphery.2F5 | broadly neutralizing antibodies | B cell development | autoantigens T he development of a safe and effective vaccine for HIV-1 is a global priority. Although anti-HIV-1 CD8 T cell responses can help control the level of viral load (1), they alone do not prevent infection (2). In contrast, administration of human mAbs targeted to conserved regions of the HIV-1 envelope (Env) in nonhuman primates, before challenge with simian-HIV (SHIV) viruses, can protect against infection (3-5). However, a major obstacle preventing development of an effective HIV vaccine is the inability to induce broadly reactive neutralizing antibodies routinely (6, 7).Several hypotheses have been offered to explain the absence of effective vaccine-induced immune responses to conserved, neutralizing epitopes of the HIV-1 Env, including suppression of neutralizing antibody responses by immunologic tolerance (8, 9). This hypothesis arose from the observation that many broadly reactive neutralizing HIV-1 antibodies also react with a variety of self-antigens (8-11). This hypothesis, however, is controversial because the rare, neutralizing human mAb 2F5 reacts with low affinity to autoantigens (8-12). mAb 2F5 was derived from an HIV-1 infected subject (13, 14) and protects against SHIV challenge (5). mAb 2F5 pos...

The HIV-1 broad neutralizing antibody (bnAb) 2F5 has been shown to be poly/self-reactive in vitro, and we previously demonstrated that targeted expression of its VDJ rearrangement alone was sufficient to trigger a profound B cell developmental blockade in 2F5 VH knockin (KI) mice, consistent with central deletion of 2F5 H chain-expressing B cells. Here, we generate a strain expressing the entire 2F5 bnAb specificity, 2F5 VHxVL KI mice, and find an even higher degree of tolerance control than observed in the 2F5 VH KI strain. Although B-cell development was severely impaired in 2F5 VHxVL KI animals, we demonstrate rescue of their B-cells when cultured in IL-7/BAFF. Intriguingly, even under these conditions, most rescued B-cell hybridomas produced mAbs that lacked HIV-1 Envelope (Env) reactivity due to editing of the 2F5 L chain, and the majority of rescued B-cells retained an anergic phenotype. Thus, when clonal deletion is circumvented, κ editing and anergy are additional safeguards preventing 2F5 VH/VL expression by immature/transitional B-cells. Importantly, 7% of rescued B-cells retained 2F5 VH/VL-expression and secreted Env-specific mAbs with HIV-1 neutralizing activity. This “partial” rescue was further corroborated in vivo, as reflected by the anergic phenotype of most rescued B-cells in 2F5 VHxVL KI × Eμ-bcl2 tg mice, and significant (yet modest) enrichment of Env-specific B-cells and serum Igs. The rescued 2F5 mAb-producing B-cell clones in this study are the first examples of in vivo-derived bone marrow precursors specifying HIV-1 bnAbs, and provide a starting point for design of strategies aimed at rescuing such B-cells.

A feature of Ig hypermutation is the presence of hypermutable DNA sequences that are preferentially found in the V regions of Ig genes. Among these, RGYW/WRCY is the most pronounced motif (G:C is a mutable position; R = A/G, Y = C/T, and W = A/T). However, a molecular basis for the high mutability of RGYW was not known until recently. The discovery that activation-induced cytidine deaminase targets the DNA encoding V regions, has enabled the analysis of its targeting properties when expressed outside of the context of hypermutation. We analyzed these data and found evidence that activation-induced cytidine deaminase is the major source of the RGYW mutable motif, but with a new twist: DGYW/WRCH (G:C is the mutable position; D = A/G/T, H = T/C/A) is a better descriptor of the Ig mutation hotspot than RGYW/WRCY. We also found evidence that a DNA repair enzyme may play a role in modifying the sequence of hypermutation hotspots.

Ig somatic mutations would be introduced by a polymerase (pol) while repairing DNA outside main DNA replication. We show that human B cells constitutively express the translesion pol zeta, which effectively extends DNA past mismatched bases (mispair extender), and pol eta, which bypasses DNA lesions in an error-free fashion. Upon B cell receptor (BCR) engagement and coculture with activated CD4+ T cells, these lymphocytes upregulated pol zeta, downregulated pol eta, and mutated the Ig and bcl-6 genes. Inhibition of the pol zeta REV3 catalytic subunit by specific phosphorothioate-modified oligonucleotides impaired Ig and bcl-6 hypermutation and UV damage-induced DNA mutagenesis, without affecting cell cycle or viability. Thus, pol zeta plays a critical role in Ig and bcl-6 hypermutation, perhaps facilitated by the downregulation of pol eta.

Activation-induced cytosine deaminase (AID) is a cytosine deaminase that is critical to immunoglobulin hypermutation, class switch recombination, and gene conversion. In the context of hypermutating B cells, AID deaminates cytosine in the DNA of immunoglobulin genes, leading to the accumulation of mutations in the variable regions. However, when AID is expressed ectopically, it is a generalized mutator of G:C base pairs. Therefore, we asked whether AID may be partially regulated by an active system of nuclear export. We found that removal of a highly conserved nuclear export signal in the C terminus of AID causes accumulation of AID in the nucleus. However, a putative nuclear localization signal in the N terminus does not appear to be functional. Finally, we found that agents that induce DNA breaks caused retention of AID in the nucleus, suggesting that DNA breaks or the repair patches initiated as a result are a substrate for AID binding.B lymphocytes fine-tune the specificity of their receptors to foreign antigen by hypermutating the variable (V) 1 regions of the immunoglobulin (Ig) genes, followed by selection for Ig receptor variants that have acquired affinity-enhancing mutations (1-3). Our understanding of the molecular basis of somatic hypermutation (SHM) of immunoglobulin genes was greatly enhanced by the discovery of a novel cytosine deaminase (AID) (4), a molecule that proved essential for SHM, class switch recombination (CSR), and immunoglobulin gene conversion (5-7). Given its homology to the RNA-editing enzyme Apobec-1, it was speculated that the substrate for deamination by AID may be cytosine in the RNA transcript encoding a molecule critical to SHM, CSR, and gene conversion. Instead, recent data suggest that the target of AID is the DNA encoding the V and switch regions of immunoglobulin genes. In a study by Neuberger and co-workers (8), it was demonstrated that in mice deficient in uracil DNA glycosylase, there is a highly altered pattern of mutation in Ig genes that points to uracil in the DNA of Ig V regions as an intermediate product of the SHM reaction. Because cytosine deamination produces uracil, these data strongly suggest that the substrate of AID is the DNA of Ig V and switch regions.Although AID likely deaminates cytosine in the DNA of Ig V and switch regions, it cannot deaminate cytosine in doublestranded DNA. Instead, in vitro deamination by AID can be accomplished with single-stranded DNA or with doublestranded DNA undergoing transcription, suggesting that accessibility of DNA-cytosine residues to AID is hindered in duplex DNA (9 -14). Recent evidence strongly suggests that AID interacts directly with the transcription machinery during CSR (15). However, the presence of AID-dependent and -independent DNA breaks in IgV regions of B cells undergoing SHM (16 -23) raises the possibility that a DNA break, or the DNA repair patch that is initiated as a result, may also generate a substrate for AID deamination. The lack of strand bias at G:C mutations in Ig V genes (24), 2 in particular th...

Pancreatic β-cell loss and dysfunction are critical components of all types of diabetes. Human and rodent β-cells are able to proliferate, and this proliferation is an important defense against the evolution and progression of diabetes. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling has been shown to affect β-cell development, proliferation, and function, but β-cell proliferation is thought to be the only source of new β-cells in the adult. Recently, β-cell dedifferentiation has been shown to be an important contributory mechanism to β-cell failure. In this study, we tie together these two pathways by showing that a network of intracellular TGF-β regulators, smads 7, 2, and 3, control β-cell proliferation after β-cell loss, and specifically, smad7 is necessary for that β-cell proliferation. Importantly, this smad7-mediated proliferation appears to entail passing through a transient, nonpathologic dedifferentiation of β-cells to a pancreatic polypeptide–fold hormone-positive state. TGF-β receptor II appears to be a receptor important for controlling the status of the smad network in β-cells. These studies should help our understanding of properly regulated β-cell replication.

The new antigen receptor (IgNAR) family has been detected in all elasmobranch species so far studied and has several intriguing structural and functional features. IgNAR protein, found in both transmembrane and secretory forms, is a dimer of heavy chains with no associated light chains, with each chain of the dimer having a single free and flexible V region. Four rearrangement events (among 1V, 3D, and 1J germline genes) generate an expressed NAR V gene, resulting in long and diverse CDR3 regions that contain cysteine residues. IgNAR mutation frequency is very high and "selected" mutations are found only in genes encoding the secreted form, suggesting that the primary repertoire is entirely CDR3-based. Here we further analyzed the two IgNAR types, "type 1" having one cysteine in CDR3 and "type 2" with an even number (two or four) of CDR3 cysteines, and discovered that placement of the disulfide bridges in the IgNAR V domain differentially influences the selection of mutations in CDR1 and CDR2. Ontogenetic analyses showed that IgNAR sequences from young animals were infrequently mutated, consistent with the paradigm that the shark immune system must become mature before high levels of mutation accompanied with selection can occur. Nevertheless, also in agreement with the idea that the IgNAR repertoire is entirely CDR3-based, but unlike studies in most other vertebrates, N-region diversity is present in expressed IgNAR clones at birth. During the investigation of this early IgNAR repertoire we serendipitously detected a third type of IgNAR gene that is expressed in all neonatal tissues; later in life its expression is perpetuated only in the epigonal organ, a tissue recently shown to be a (the?) primary lymphoid tissue in elasmobranchs. This "type 3" IgNAR gene still undergoes three rearrangement events (two D regions are "germline-joined"), yet CDR3 sequences were exactly of the same length and very similar sequence, suggesting that "type 3" CDR3s are selected early in ontogeny, perhaps by a self-ligand.

In most vertebrate embryos and neonates studied to date unique antigen receptors (antibodies and T cell receptors) are expressed that possess a limited immune repertoire. We have isolated a subclass of IgM, IgM 1gj, from the nurse shark Ginglymostoma cirratum that is preferentially expressed in neonates. The variable (V) region gene encoding the heavy (H) chain underwent V-D-J rearrangement in germ cells (''germline-joined''). Such H chain V genes were discovered over 10 years ago in sharks but until now were not shown to be expressed at appreciable levels; we find expression of H 1gj in primary and secondary lymphoid tissues early in life, but in adults only in primary lymphoid tissue, which is identified in this work as the epigonal organ. H 1gj chain associates covalently with light (L) chains and is most similar in sequence to IgM H chains, but like mammalian IgG has three rather than the four IgM constant domains; deletion of the ancestral IgM C2 domain thus defines both IgG and IgM 1gj. Because sharks are the members of the oldest vertebrate class known to possess antibodies, unique or specialized antibodies expressed early in ontogeny in sharks and other vertebrates were likely present at the inception of the adaptive immune system.