Unraveling the diversity and functions of tissue-resident plasma cells (RNA-seq of mouse antibody-secreting cells)

Antibody-secreting plasma cells (PCs) are generated in secondary lymphoid organs, but are reported to reside in an emerging range of anatomical sites. Analysis of the transcriptome of different tissue-resident (Tr)PC populations revealed that they each have their own transcriptional signature indicative of functional adaptation to the host tissue environment. In contrast to expectation, all TrPCs were extremely long-lived, regardless of their organ of residence, with the longevity influenced by intrinsic factors like the immunoglobulin isotype. This study reveals that extreme longevity is an intrinsic property of TrPCs whose transcriptome is imprinted by signals received both at the site of induction and within the tissue of residence. Overall design: RNA-seq gene expression profiling analysis was performed on tissue-resident antibody-secreting cells (plasma cells and plasmablasts. Ex vivo cells were sorted by Blimp1-gfp+ CD138+ or Blimp1-gfp+ CD98+. Plasma cells were isolated from bone marrow (1 biological replicate), colon (3 replicates), small intestine (3 replicates), mammary gland (3 replicates), Peyer's patches (2 replicates) and spleen (2 replicates). Plasmablasts were isolated from Peyer's patches (2 replicates) and spleen (2 replicates). Bone marrow plasma cells were further sorted into IgA and non-IgA isotypes (3 biological replicates).