Publications by authors named "Betty Mousseau"

Introduction: Data from patient cohorts and mouse models of atopic dermatitis, food allergy and asthma strongly support a role for chitinase-3-like-1 protein (CHI3L1) in allergic disease.

Methods: To address whether Chi3l1 also contributes to T2 responses following nematode infection, we infected mice with () and analyzed T cell responses.

Results: As anticipated, we observed impaired T2 responses in -infected mice.

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Donor-specific antibody (DSA) responses against human leukocyte antigen (HLA) proteins mismatched between kidney transplant donors and recipients cause allograft loss. The rules governing the immunogenicity of non-self donor HLA are poorly understood. Using single-cell, molecular, structural, and proteomic techniques, we profiled the HLA-specific B cell response in the kidney and blood of a transplant recipient with antibody-mediated rejection (AMR).

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Seasonal influenza vaccination elicits hemagglutinin (HA)-specific memory B (Bmem) cells, and although multiple Bmem cell populations have been characterized, considerable heterogeneity exists. We found that HA-specific human Bmem cells differed in the expression of surface marker FcRL5 and transcriptional factor T-bet. FcRL5T-bet Bmem cells were transcriptionally similar to effector-like memory cells, while T-betFcRL5 Bmem cells exhibited stem-like central memory properties.

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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for effective prophylactic vaccination to prevent the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Intranasal vaccination is an attractive strategy to prevent COVID-19 as the nasal mucosa represents the first-line barrier to SARS-CoV-2 entry. The current intramuscular vaccines elicit systemic immunity but not necessarily high-level mucosal immunity.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for effective vaccinations to combat the spread of SARS-CoV-2, with a focus on intranasal vaccines as they target the nasal mucosa, the first barrier to infection.
  • - Current vaccines mainly provide systemic immunity via intramuscular injection, lacking the ability to activate mucosal defenses.
  • - The AdCOVID vaccine, an intranasal adenovirus-based vaccine, successfully induces strong immune responses, including mucosal IgA and T cells, making it a promising candidate for COVID-19 prevention.
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Although B cells expressing the IFNγR or the IFNγ-inducible transcription factor T-bet promote autoimmunity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)-prone mouse models, the role for IFNγ signaling in human antibody responses is unknown. We show that elevated levels of IFNγ in SLE patients correlate with expansion of the T-bet expressing IgDCD27CD11cCXCR5 (DN2) pre-antibody secreting cell (pre-ASC) subset. We demonstrate that naïve B cells form T-bet pre-ASCs following stimulation with either Th1 cells or with IFNγ, IL-2, anti-Ig and TLR7/8 ligand and that IL-21 dependent ASC formation is significantly enhanced by IFNγ or IFNγ-producing T cells.

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Although viral infections elicit robust interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and long-lived antibody-secreting cell (ASC) responses, the roles for IFN-γ and IFN-γ-induced transcription factors (TFs) in ASC development are unclear. We showed that B cell intrinsic expression of IFN-γR and the IFN-γ-induced TF T-bet were required for T-helper 1 cell-induced differentiation of B cells into ASCs. IFN-γR signaling induced Blimp1 expression in B cells but also initiated an inflammatory gene program that, if not restrained, prevented ASC formation.

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Natural antibodies contribute to tissue homeostasis and protect against infections. They are secreted constitutively without external antigenic stimulation. The differentiation state and regulatory pathways that enable continuous natural antibody production by B-1 cells, the main cellular source in mice, remain incompletely understood.

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Survival of mature B cells is regulated by B cell receptor and BAFFR-dependent signals. We show that B cells from mice lacking the G(alphaq) subunit of trimeric G proteins (Gnaq(-/-) mice) have an intrinsic survival advantage over normal B cells, even in the absence of BAFF. Gnaq(-/-) B cells develop normally in the bone marrow but inappropriately survive peripheral tolerance checkpoints, leading to the accumulation of transitional, marginal zone, and follicular B cells, many of which are autoreactive.

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Synthetic oligonucleotides containing CpG motifs have been shown to induce proliferation, differentiation, and cytokine production in B cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells through a TLR9-dependent mechanism. A class (CpG-A) and B class (CpG-B) oligonucleotides display distinct physical properties. CpG-A, but not CpG-B, can multimerize to form exceedingly large lattices.

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Immunity to the intestinal parasite Heligomosomoides polygyrus is dependent on the successful generation of T helper 2 (Th2) memory cells. We showed that B cells contribute to immunity against H. polygyrus by producing antibody (Ab) and by promoting expansion and differentiation of primary and memory Th2 cells.

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The ectoenzyme CD38 catalyzes the production of cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR) and ADP-ribose (ADPR) from its substrate, NAD(+). Both products of the CD38 enzyme reaction play important roles in signal transduction, as cADPR regulates calcium release from intracellular stores and ADPR controls cation entry through the plasma membrane channel TRPM2. We previously demonstrated that CD38 and the cADPR generated by CD38 regulate calcium signaling in leukocytes stimulated with some, but not all, chemokines and controls leukocyte migration to inflammatory sites.

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