Transcriptomic profile of IL-10-producing B cells (B10) in response to IL-2 signal in vitro

IL-2 is one of the first cytokine discovered but its complex roles in T cell effector functions has shadowed its function in B cell responses. B cells transiently expressed IL-2 receptor upon activation but it is unclear whether all mature B cell subsets have an equal dependence upon IL-2 and how IL-2 dictates B cell fate. Using our newly generated B-cell-specific Il2rb conditional knockout (KO) model of mice lacking IL2RB signaling in mature B cells, our objectives were to: (1) transcriptionally characterize IL-10-producing B cells induced by IL-2 ; (2) explore a potential commitment of these IL-10-secreting B cells ; (3) decipher IL-2 mechanisms of action on B cells by identifiying signal transducers and/or transcriptional players mobilised in immunoregulatory polarization program iniated by IL-2 signaling. We found that IL-2 acts intrinsically on B cells to promote Maf and Il10 expression and engage B cells toward immunoregulatory profile. In parallele, we found that IL-2 promotes plasma cell reprogramming on IL-10-producing B cells. Overall design: To investigate the role of IL-2 on IL-10-producing B cell, we recovered spleen from Ctrl mice, isolated B cells and cultured them 3 days with aBCR + IL-5 + IFNg + IL-2 (n=4). We then sorted CD25pos IL-10pos B cells (B10+) and CD25pos IL-10neg B cells (B10-) using FACS ARIA, extracted RNA and performed Bulk RNA-sequencing on these samples with illumina technology. We performed comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data.