Roles of Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptor 1A in Germinal Centers and Long-Lived Humoral Immunity.

In response to T-dependent Ag, germinal centers (GC) generate bone marrow-resident plasma cells (BMPC) and memory B cells (MBC). In this study, we demonstrate that the bone morphogenetic protein receptor 1A (BMPR1A) signaling pathway, which regulates differentiation and self-renewal in multiple stem cell populations, regulates GC dynamics and resultant establishment of BMPC and MBC. Expression studies using quantitative PCR and novel IRES.EGFP reporter mice demonstrated that expression is upregulated among GC B cells (GCBC) and subsets of MBC, bone marrow plasmablasts, and BMPC. In immunized mice carrying B cell-targeted gene deletions, the GC response was initially diminished. Subsequently, the GCBC compartment recovered in size, concurrent with accumulation of GCBC that carried unmodified rather than deleted alleles. Similarly, the resulting class-switched MBC and BMPC carried retained non-recombined alleles. Despite the strong selective pressure for "leaky" B cells that retained , there was a permanent marked reduction in switched bone marrow Ab-forming cells (plasmablasts + plasma cells), BMPC, MBC, and Ag-specific serum IgM in mice carrying B cell-targeted gene deletions. These findings demonstrate a novel role for BMPR1A in the modulation of the B cell response and in the establishment of long-term memory.