Chemotaxis of germinal center B cells in response to C5a

An infiltrate of B cells and plasma cells is characteristic of certain chronic inflammatory lesions. However, mechanisms involved in the local accumulation of these cells have not been established. Efforts to demonstrate that B cells from normal animals can migrate in response to inflammation-induced chemoattractants have been inconclusive. The objective of this study was to determine if murine germinal center (GC) B cells could respond chemotactically to a C5a gradient. On successive days after secondary immunization, draining lymph nodes were harvested and the activated GC B cells isolated. These GC B cells were placed in modified Boyden chambers, incubated for 3 h and the distance the leading front of cells migrated through the filters was determined. The results show that GC B cells migrated to factors in zymosan- and lipopolysaccharide-activated serum. The migratory response demonstrated distinct kinetics. Cells isolated between 2 to 4 days after secondary immunization migrated, whereas cells isolated at day 0 and beyond day 6 did not. Checkerboard analysis revealed that the migratory response was attributable to both chemokinesis and chemotaxis. Anti-C5 inhibited the migration of day-3 GC B cells implicating C5 in the migration mechanism. Studies using recombinant C5a established that this C5 fragment was chemotactically active. In conclusion, GC B cells generally were not chemotactically active. However, at a particular stage of maturation B cells in the GC become responsive to C5a as a chemotactic agent. Thus, B cells from normal animals may respond chemotactically, and C5a may play a role in recruitment of recently activated B cells into inflammatory sites.