Publication of IMPRS-LS student Maike Kober-Hasslacher

Kober-Hasslacher, M., Oh-Strauß, H., Kumar, D., Soberón, V., Diehl, C., Lech, M., Engleitner, T., Katab, E., Fernandez Saiz, V., Piontek, G., Li, H., Menze, B., Ziegenhain, C., Enard, W., Rad, R., Böttcher, J.P., Anders, H.J., Rudelius, M., Schmidt-Supprian, M. (IMPRS-LS students are in bold)
J Clin Invest, 2020, [Epub ahead of print].
DOI: 10.1172/JCI124382

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

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 (GC) B 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 amongst 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.