Artificial lymph nodes induce potent secondary immune responses in naive and immunodeficient mice
J. Clin. Invest. Noriaki Okamoto, et al. 117:997 doi:10.1172/JCI30379 [Go to this article.]

Figure 1
Antigen-specific secondary IgG responses are induced in transplanted aLNs, but not in the spleens, of normal naive recipients even 4 weeks after transplantation. The aLNs were formed first in NP-OVA–preimmunized BALB/c mice. After their formation, aLNs were removed and transplanted into renal subcapsular regions of naive, nonimmunized BALB/c mice. Mice were kept in cages for 3 weeks and then immunized i.v. with NP-OVA antigen (100 μg/mouse). Tissue sections of aLNs and sera of the recipient mice were collected 5 days after immunization. (A–F) Immunohistochemical staining of aLNs (A–C) and spleens of aLN-transplanted mice (D–F) 4 weeks after transplantation. Antibodies used were as follows: FITC-labeled anti-mouse CD3, biotin-labeled anti-mouse B220, and Qdot 605 streptavidin conjugate (A and D); FITC-labeled anti-mouse CD3, biotin-labeled anti-mouse IgG1, and Qdot 605–labeled streptavidin (B and E); FITC-labeled anti-mouse IgM, biotin-labeled anti-mouse CD3, and Qdot 605 streptavidin conjugate (C and F). T, T cell; B, B cell; IgG1, IgG1 AFC; IgM, IgM AFC. Original magnification, ×100. (G) IgG1 NP-specific antibody titers in sera of aLN-transplanted BALB/c mice without immunization (Con) or immunized with NP-OVA. (H) Number of IgG1 NP-specific AFCs in aLNs and spleens of recipient BALB/c mice after immunization with NP-OVA.