Complement Receptors 1 and 2 Influence the Immune Environment in a B Cell Receptor-Independent Manner

Abstract

The CD21/35 proteins are complement receptors implicated in controlling and interpreting activation states of the innate and acquired immune responses. One defect of CD21/35−/− animals is depressed production of Ag-specific IgG3 which we show is evident in vivo but not in vitro. Gene expression profiles obtained from naive wild-type and CD21/35−/− splenocytes demonstrated enhanced expression of inflammatory mediators from CD11b+ splenocytes in the CD21/35−/− animals. Splenocyte populations between wild-type and CD21/35−/− mice were similar except for a moderate increase in GR1lowCD31+ immature myeloid cells. Furthermore, depletion of neutrophils and other GR1-expressing cells alleviates elevated inflammatory gene expression in the CD21/35−/− spleen. Complement activation also plays a key role in the differential gene expression observed in the CD21/35-deficient mouse as depletion of C3 or inhibition of C3a receptor signaling within the animal returned inflammatory gene expression within the spleen to wild-type levels. Finally, C3 depletion before immunization allowed for the enhanced production of Ag-specific IgG3 production in the CD21/35−/− mouse compared with mock-depleted animals. These data suggest that the overall environment of the CD21/35−/− spleen is quite different from that of the wild-type animal perhaps due to altered complement convertase activity. This difference may be responsible for a number of the phenotypes ascribed to the deficiency of CD21/35 proteins on B cells and follicular dendritic cells.