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Science 325 (5943): 1001-1005

Copyright © 2009 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Bcl6 Mediates the Development of T Follicular Helper Cells

Roza I. Nurieva,* Yeonseok Chung, Gustavo J. Martinez, Xuexian O. Yang, Shinya Tanaka, Tatyana D. Matskevitch, Yi-Hong Wang, Chen Dong*

Abstract: A fundamental function of CD4+ helper T (TH) cells is the regulation of B cell–mediated humoral immunity. Development of T follicular helper (TFH) cells that provide help to B cells is mediated by the cytokines interleukin-6 and interleukin-21 but is independent of TH1, TH2, and TH17 effector cell lineages. Here, we characterize the function of Bcl6, a transcription factor selectively expressed in TFH cells. Bcl6 expression is regulated by interleukin-6 and interleukin-21. Bcl6 overexpression induced TFH-related gene expression and inhibited other TH lineage cell differentiation in a DNA binding–dependent manner. Moreover, Bcl6 deficiency in T cells resulted in impaired TFH cell development and germinal center reactions, and altered production of other effector T cell subsets. Our data thus illustrate that Bcl6 is required for programming of TFH cell generation.

Department of Immunology, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rnurieva{at}mdanderson.org (R.I.N); cdong{at}mdanderson.org (C.D.)

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