Germinal-center development of memory B cells driven by IL-9 from follicular helper T cells

A subset of GC B cells that have stopped cycling, upregulated CD38 and downregulated BCL-6 is functionally verified as GC-derived memory B cell precursors (GC-MPs). RNA-seq analyses of the transcriptome were used to probe the developmental trajectory of these cells and their responses to IL-9, a cytokine that is found to drive the memory development from the GC. Overall design: Differential gene expression analyses between GC-MP cells and regular GC B cells in G1 phase (GC-MPP cells); Gene expression profiling of different GC subsets in comparison to memory B cells and plasma cells; acute effects of in vivo IL-9 or anti-IL-9 treatment on GC-MP or GC-MPP cells.