Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transplant. Dec 24, 2015; 5(4): 196-208
Published online Dec 24, 2015. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v5.i4.196
B cells with regulatory properties in transplantation tolerance
Justine Durand, Elise Chiffoleau
Justine Durand, Elise Chiffoleau, INSERM U1064, Institut de Transplantation et de Recherche en Transplantation Urologie Nephrologie, ITUN, IHU, CHU Nantes, Université de Nantes, F44000 Nantes, France
Author contributions: Durand J and Chiffoleau E wrote the review.
Supported by “Fondation PROGREFFE” and “Societé Francophone de Transplantation” to Justine Durand; the National Research Agency via the investment of the future program ANR-10-IBHU-005; Nantes Metropole and the Pays de la Loire Region.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Elise Chiffoleau, PhD, INSERM U1064, Institut de Transplantation et de Recherche en Transplantation Urologie Nephrologie, ITUN, IHU, CHU Nantes, Université de Nantes, CHU Hotel-Dieu, 30 Bd Jean Monnet 44093 Nantes, F44000 Nantes, France. elise.chiffoleau@univ-nantes.fr
Telephone: +33-2-40087596 Fax: +33-2-40087411
Received: June 3, 2015
Peer-review started: July 5, 2015
First decision: July 31, 2015
Revised: September 2, 2015
Accepted: September 29, 2015
Article in press: September 30, 2015
Published online: December 24, 2015
Processing time: 175 Days and 16.1 Hours
Abstract

Induction of tolerance remains a major goal in transplantation. Indeed, despite potent immunosuppression, chronic rejection is still a real problem in transplantation. The humoral response is an important mediator of chronic rejection, and numerous strategies have been developed to target either B cells or plasma cells. However, the use of anti-CD20 therapy has highlighted the beneficial role of subpopulation of B cells, termed regulatory B cells. These cells have been characterized mainly in mice models of auto-immune diseases but emerging literature suggests their role in graft tolerance in transplantation. Regulatory B cells seem to be induced following inflammation to restrain excessive response. Different phenotypes of regulatory B cells have been described and are functional at various differentiation steps from immature to plasma cells. These cells act by multiple mechanisms such as secretion of immuno-suppressive cytokines interleukin-10 (IL-10) or IL-35, cytotoxicity, expression of inhibitory receptors or by secretion of non-inflammatory antibodies. Better characterization of the development, phenotype and mode of action of these cells seems urgent to develop novel approaches to manipulate the different B cell subsets and the response to the graft in a clinical setting.

Keywords: Regulatory B cells; Suppression; Immuno-suppressive cytokines interleukin-10; Antibodies; Tolerance

Core tip: Regulatory B cells have been characterized mainly in auto-immune diseases but emerging literature suggests their role in graft tolerance in transplantation. Regulatory B cells exhibit different phenotypes and act by multiple mechanisms such as secretion of immuno-suppressive cytokines, cytotoxicity, expression of inhibitory receptors or secretion of non-inflammatory antibodies. Better characterization of the development, phenotype and mode of action of these cells seems urgent to develop novel approaches to manipulate the different B cell subsets and the response to the graft in a clinical setting.