Dynamic changes in E protein activity orchestrate germinal center and plasma cell development [ChIP-Seq]. Homo sapiens

Humoral immunity requires the generation of high-affinity antibodies, which involves the generation of germinal centres (GC) promoting class switch and affinity maturation of antigen-specific B cells, and the differentiation of long-lived plasma cells. This multi-layered process is tightly controlled by the activity of a transcriptional network including Bcl6, essential for the development of GC, and Blimp1, required for the differentiation of plasma cells. Here, we reveal an additional layer of complexity by demonstrating that dynamic changes in E-protein activity mediated by Id3 govern both GC and plasma cell differentiation. We show that down-regulation of Id3 expression in B cells in essential for releasing E2A and E2-2, the combined activity of which is required for both GC B cell and plasma cell differentiation. We demonstrate that this pathway controls the expression of multiple key factors required for antigen-induced B cell differentiation, including Blimp1, Xbp1, Mef2b and CXCR4 and is therefore critical for establishing the transcriptional network that controls GC B cell and plasma cell differentiation. Overall design: Genome binding of transcription factor E2A