Characterization of cytokine-producing B cell subsets in human tonsils, insights into their role in tonsillar hypertrophy and recurrent tonsilitis

JAVIER DE ROSA; MARIA ELENA ARABOLAZA; ELOISA I. ARANA; LINDYBETH SARMIENTO VARON; BIBIANA PAOLI; KARINA A. PASQUEVICH; MERCEDES MONTANI; PABLO FERNANDEZ

Cancun

Congreso; ALAI; 2018

ALAI

Tonsils are secondary lymphoid organs which must grant immunologic protection against pathogens and tolerance to harmless antigens (Ags) in air and food. They are mostly B-cell (Bc) maturation and differentiation sites. Bc have traditionally been associated with antibody production and Ag presentation. Lately, the Bc field has been transfigured by the attribution of new functions. For instance, Bc secrete multiple cytokines under different stimuli. It is likely that alteration of the immune equilibrium activation/regulation may trigger recurrent tonsillitis (RT) and/or hypertrophy (HT) leading in turn to tonsillectomy. Hence, the aim of our work was to characterize those unconventional immune functions of tonsillar Bc, i.e different Bc subsets with regulatory and pro-inflammatory profiles, and their association with the disease that led to surgery. Methodology used involved FACS and real time PCR. Initially,we determined tonsillar Bc expression of IL17, IL6, IL8, IFNg, IL5, TNFa, IL10 and TGFb for different patients upon three sets of stimuli (IL2+IL4/ IL2+IL4+CpG+CD40L/ aIgM+CD40L). Moreover, we established the kinetics of appearance of IL10 (regulatory cytokine) expressing Bc (Breg) and compared it with that of pro-inflammatory cytokine-expressing Bc (IL6 and IL8) for 5 patients upon 0, 16, 32 and 72 hs stimulation, via TLR9 and CD40. The proportion of Breg increased between 16 and 72 hs in all cases. Notably, the percentage of Breg detected at the different time points depended on the cause of surgery. The hypertrophied (HT) tonsils´ samples showed a significantly (p