Department of Dermatology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu 431-3192, Japan.
Department of Dermatology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, 1-20-1 Handayama, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu 431-3192, Japan.
Clin Immunol. 2018 Oct;195:93-100. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2018.08.003. Epub 2018 Aug 16.
Herpes zoster (HZ) is a recurrent varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection. Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells produce IL-21 and CXCL13, which contributes to the differentiation of plasmablasts. Plasmablasts are involved in the VZV-specific antibody production. We investigated the kinetics of circulating plasmablasts and circulating Tfh (cTfh) cells in 43 HZ patients. Plasma IL-21 and CXCL13 levels were also measured. We found an increase of circulating plasmablasts during the clinical course of HZ. The frequency of circulating plasmablasts positively correlated with VZV-specific IgG titers, frequency of activated cTfh cells, and plasma CXCL13 levels, but did not correlate with plasma IL-21 levels. In a representative case, the kinetics peaked in the order of cTfh cells, CXCL13, plasmablasts, and VZV IgG titer. These results suggest that cTfh-CXCL13 may have a crucial role in the differentiation of B cells into VZV-specific IgG-producing plasmablasts, resulting in boosting immunity against VZV reactivation.
带状疱疹（HZ）是一种复发性水痘带状疱疹病毒（VZV）感染。滤泡辅助 T（Tfh）细胞产生 IL-21 和 CXCL13，有助于浆母细胞的分化。浆母细胞参与 VZV 特异性抗体的产生。我们研究了 43 例 HZ 患者循环浆母细胞和循环滤泡辅助 T（cTfh）细胞的动力学。还测量了血浆 IL-21 和 CXCL13 水平。我们发现循环浆母细胞在 HZ 的临床过程中增加。循环浆母细胞的频率与 VZV 特异性 IgG 滴度、活化的 cTfh 细胞频率和血浆 CXCL13 水平呈正相关，但与血浆 IL-21 水平无关。在一个代表性病例中，动力学按 cTfh 细胞、CXCL13、浆母细胞和 VZV IgG 滴度的顺序达到峰值。这些结果表明，cTfh-CXCL13 可能在 B 细胞分化为 VZV 特异性 IgG 产生浆母细胞中起关键作用，从而增强对 VZV 再激活的免疫力。
