Follicular dendritic cells specifically express the long CR2/CD21 isoform

This paper describes an antibody (mAb 7D6) that specifically recognizes human follicular dendritic cells (FDCs). By expression cloning, a cDNA clone encoding for the long human CR2/ CD21 isoform (CD21L) that contains an additional exon (10a) was isolated. We demonstrated that FDCs selectively express CD21L, while B cells selectively express the short CR2/CD21 lacking exon 10a (CD21S). By screening mouse Ltk- cells transfected with the CD21L cDNA, we further showed that the other two anti-human FDC mAbs DRC-1 and KiM4 also recognize CD21L. Thus, CD21L represents the first characterized human FDC-specific molecule, which may confer unique functions of FDCs in germinal center development.