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Development of an IFN-γ ELISpot Assay to Assess Varicella-Zoster Virus-specific Cell-mediated Immunity Following Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation
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Interleukin-21 restores immunoglobulin production ex vivo in patients with common variable immunodeficiency and

Stephan Borte1, Qiang Pan-Hammarström, Chonghai Liu

  • 1Department of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Leipzig, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany. stephan.borte@medizin.uni-leipzig.de

Blood
|September 10, 2009
PubMed

Interleukin-21 (IL-21) is an important promoter for differentiation of human B cells into immunoglobulin (Ig)-secreting cells. The objective of this study was to evaluate an IL-21-based approach to induce immunoglobulin production in B cells from patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) or selective IgA deficiency (IgAD). We show that a combination of IL-21, IL-4, and anti-CD40 stimulation induces class-switch recombination to IgG and IgA and differentiation of Ig-secreting cells, consisting of both surface IgG(+) (sIgG(+)) and sIgA(+) B cells and CD138(+) plasma cells, in patients with CVID or IgAD. Stimulation with IL-21 was far more effective than stimulation with IL-4 or IL-10. Moreover, spontaneous apoptosis of CD19(+) B cells from patients with CVID or IgAD was prevented by a combination of IL-21, IL-4, and anti-CD40 stimulation. Analysis of IL-21 and IL-21 receptor (IL-21R) mRNA expression upon anti-CD3 stimulation of T cells, however, showed no evidence for defective IL-21 expression in CVID patients and sequencing of the coding regions of the IL21 gene did not reveal any mutations, suggesting a regulatory defect. Thus, our work provides an initial basis for a potential therapeutic role of IL-21 to reconstitute immunoglobulin production in CVID and IgAD.

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