c-Rel gain in B cells drives germinal center reactions and autoantibody production

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Abstract

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms and locus amplification link the NF-κB transcription factor c-Rel to human autoimmune diseases and B cell lymphomas, respectively. However, the functional consequences of enhanced c-Rel levels remain enigmatic. Here, we overexpressed c-Rel specifically in mouse B cells from BAC-transgenic gene loci and demonstrate that c-Rel protein levels linearly dictated expansion of germinal center B (GCB) cells and isotype-switched plasma cells. c-Rel expression in B cells of otherwise c-Rel–deficient mice fully rescued terminal B cell differentiation, underscoring its critical B cell–intrinsic roles. Unexpectedly, in GCB cells transcription-independent regulation produced the highest c-Rel protein levels among B cell subsets. In c-Rel–overexpressing GCB cells this caused enhanced nuclear translocation, a profoundly altered transcriptional program, and increased proliferation. Finally, we provide a link between c-Rel gain and autoimmunity by showing that c-Rel overexpression in B cells caused autoantibody production and renal immune complex deposition.

Authors

Maike Kober-Hasslacher, Hyunju Oh-Strauß, Dilip Kumar, Valeria Soberon, Carina Diehl, Maciej Lech, Thomas Engleitner, Eslam Katab, Vanesa Fernández-Sáiz, Guido Piontek, Hongwei Li, Björn Menze, Christoph Ziegenhain, Wolfgang Enard, Roland Rad, Jan P. Böttcher, Hans-Joachim Anders, Martina Rudelius, Marc Schmidt-Supprian