Mouse Liver B Cells Phagocytose <i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i> and Initiate Immune Responses against Their Antigens

Recent studies have revealed that mammalian B cells ingest particulate Ags, such as bacteria, although little is known about the effect of this function on acquired immunity. We investigated the role of bacterium-phagocytosing B cells in acquired host immune responses. Cultured mouse liver B cells substantially phagocytosed serum-opsonized Streptococcus pneumoniae and produced IgM. On adoptive transfer of liver B cells that phagocytose S. pneumoniae labeled with pHrodo Red succinimidyl ester, recipient mice showed elevated plasma levels of IgG specific for bacterial Ags. In particular, the levels of IgG2a and IgG2b specific for pneumococcal surface protein A, as well as IgG3 for pneumococcal polysaccharide, were markedly increased compared with total IgG specific for each Ag. When phagocytic liver B cells were cultured with spleen CD4+ T cells obtained from mice primed with heat-killed S. pneumoniae 7 d before, they induced IL-2 production and proliferation of the CD4+ T cells, along with Th1 cytokine production. However, they induced neither the CD4+ T cell production of IL-21, a suggested marker promoting B cell proliferation and differentiation, nor the expression of genes important for somatic hypermutation or isotype switching; such responses were particularly evident when splenic B cells merely capturing S. pneumoniae without processing them were cultured with spleen CD4+ T cells. These findings suggest that phagocytic liver B cells may be involved in acquired immune responses by presenting derivative peptides to CD4+ T cells without their own somatic hypermutation or isotype switching.