Antigen-specific immunotherapy regulates B cell activities in the intestine

Mature B cells (BCs) express CD23 and B cell receptors. Whether activation of CD23 and B cell receptors has different effects on BC activities is unclear. This study aims to investigate the mechanism by which the specific antigen immunotherapy regulates the activation of BCs in the skewed Th2 responses. Mice were sensitized to ovalbumin. The specific antigen vaccination (SAV) at graded doses was employed to modulate the activities of BCs in which the expression of IL-10, IgE, matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9), CD23, and serum soluble CD23 by BCs was evaluated. The immune regulatory effect of BCs primed by lower or higher SAV doses was observed with an adoptive transfer mouse experiment. SAV activated CD23 to produce IL-10 in BCs at lower doses. The higher doses of SAV increased the expression of MMP9 in BCs that reduced the amounts of CD23 in BCs and increased the serum levels of soluble CD23, which was abrogated by the pretreatment with MMP9 inhibitor. Adoptively transfer with BCs primed by lower doses of SAV inhibited the ongoing antigen-specific Th2 responses whereas the BCs primed by higher doses of SAV exacerbated the ongoing Th2 responses. Exposure to specific antigens at optimal doses can activate BCs to produce IL-10 to suppress the skewed antigen-specific Th2 responses. The antigen doses of SAV higher than the optimal doses may promote the production of soluble CD23 to exacerbate the ongoing immune responses.