In lymph nodes, cellular positioning can dictate the immune response. Lund and colleagues show that nematode infection triggers interactions between lymphotoxin-producing B cells and CXCR5+ dendritic cells and CD4+ T cells to initiate T helper type 2 responses. Although cognate encounters between antigen-bearing dendritic cells (DCs) that express the chemokine receptor CCR7 and CCR7+ naive T cells take place in the T cell zone of lymph nodes, it is unknown whether the colocalization of DCs and T cells in the T cell area is required for the generation of effector cells. Here we found that after infection with an intestinal nematode, antigen-bearing DCs and CD4+ T cells upregulated the chemokine receptor CXCR5 and localized together outside the T cell zone by a mechanism dependent on the chemokine CXCL13, B cells and lymphotoxin. Notably, lymphotoxin-expressing B cells, CXCR5-expressing DCs and T cells, and CXCL13 were also necessary for development of interleukin 4 (IL-4)-producing type 2 helper T cells (TH2 cells), which suggests that TH2 differentiation can initiate outside the T cell zone.

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 IgD^negCD27^negCD11c⁺CXCR5^neg (DN2) pre-antibody secreting cell (pre-ASC) subset. We demonstrate that naïve B cells form T-bet^hi 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. IFNγ promotes ASC development by synergizing with IL-2 and TLR7/8 ligands to induce genome-wide epigenetic reprogramming of B cells, which results in increased chromatin accessibility surrounding IRF4 and BLIMP1 binding motifs and epigenetic remodeling of IL21R and PRDM1 loci. Finally, we show that IFNγ signals poise B cells to differentiate by increasing their responsiveness to IL-21.

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. Here, we tested a single intranasal dose of our candidate adenovirus type 5-vectored vaccine encoding the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (AdCOVID) in inbred, outbred, and transgenic mice. A single intranasal vaccination with AdCOVID elicited a strong and focused immune response against RBD through the induction of mucosal IgA in the respiratory tract, serum neutralizing antibodies, and CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells with a T_h1-like cytokine expression profile. A single AdCOVID dose resulted in immunity that was sustained for over six months. Moreover, a single intranasal dose completely protected K18-hACE2 mice from lethal SARS-CoV-2 challenge, preventing weight loss and mortality. These data show that AdCOVID promotes concomitant systemic and mucosal immunity and represents a promising vaccine candidate.