Inflammation Controls B Lymphopoiesis by Regulating Chemokine CXCL12 Expression

Abstract

Inflammation removes developing and mature lymphocytes from the bone marrow (BM) and induces the appearance of developing B cells in the spleen. BM granulocyte numbers increase after lymphocyte reductions to support a reactive granulocytosis. Here, we demonstrate that inflammation, acting primarily through tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), mobilizes BM lymphocytes. Mobilization reflects a reduced CXCL12 message and protein in BM and changes to the BM environment that prevents homing by cells from naive donors. The effects of TNFα are potentiated by interleukin 1 β (IL-1β), which acts primarily to expand the BM granulocyte compartment. Our observations indicate that inflammation induces lymphocyte mobilization by suppressing CXCL12 retention signals in BM, which, in turn, increases the ability of IL-1β to expand the BM granulocyte compartment. Consistent with this idea, lymphocyte mobilization and a modest expansion of BM granulocyte numbers follow injections of pertussis toxin. We propose that TNFα and IL-1β transiently specialize the BM to support acute granulocytic responses and consequently promote extramedullary lymphopoiesis.