Cytoskeleton protein 4.1R regulates B-cell fate by modulating the canonical NF-κB pathway

During the immune response, B cells can enter the memory pathway, which is characterized by class switch recombination (CSR), or they may undergo plasma cell differentiation (PCD) to secrete immunoglobulin. Both of these processes occur in activated B cells, which are reported to relate to membrane-association proteins and adaptors. Protein 4.1R acts as an adaptor, linking membrane proteins to the cytoskeleton, and is involved in many cell events such as cell activation and differentiation, and cytokine secretion. However, the effect of 4.1R on regulating B-cell fate is unclear. Here, we show an important association between B-cell fate and 4.1R. In vitro, primary B cells were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide combined with interleukin-4; results showed that 4.1R-deficient (4.1R^-/- ) cells compared with wild-type (4.1R^+/+ ) B cells augmented expression of activation-induced cytidine deaminase and germline, resulting in increased IgG1⁺ B cells, whereas the secretion of IgG1 and IgM was reduced, and CD138⁺ B cells were also decreased. Throughout the process, 4.1R regulated canonical nuclear factor (NF-κB) rather than non-canonical NF-κB to promote the expression of CSR complex components, leading to up-regulation of B-cell CSR. In contrast, 4.1R-deficient B cells showed reduced expression of Blimp-1, which caused B cells to down-regulate PCD. Furthermore, over-activation of canonical NF-κB may induce apoptosis signaling to cause PCD apoptosis to reduce PCD number. In summary, our results suggest that 4.1R acts as a B-cell fate regulator by inhibiting the canonical NF-κB signaling pathway.