Regulatory B-cells in transplantation

Abstract

B-cells have been long accepted as the main cellular component in humoral responses. Their effector function is based on antibody and cytokine production. The development of donor-specific antibodies by B-cells has deleterious consequences in graft and patients survival. Recently, a new subset of IL-10-secreting B-cells with regulatory capacity in allergic and autoimmune diseases has been shown. Such regulatory function changes the apprehension of B-cells as effector cells and increases the complexity to the immuno-regulatory networks. New therapies targeting B-cells should consider that depleting B-cells potentially impairs regulatory B-cells (Bregs) and that modulating or favoring the maintenance and function of Bregs would be important for the achievement of humoral tolerance. Unfortunately, few direct pieces of evidence of Breg involvement in allograft tolerance models has been described. Here, we summarize the current knowledge of the role of Bregs in transplantation. © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.