1/ So proud of PhDs @AbigailGroot129 & @wunniess @GarvanInstitute @UNSWMedicine their first paper now out @CellCellPress. Amazing collab with Veera Panova & Oliver Bannard @UniofOxford, David Hume @UQMedicine, @tanmay_mitra_ @Helmholtz_HZI & many more.
2/ Tingible body macrophages (TBMs) are as old as the GC! First described Fleming 1885 and possibly thought to contain lymphocytes about to be born! Hence "germinal" centre. Also described by pathologists in Hodgkin's as giving "starry sky" appearance to GC as per Van Gogh.
4/ We used CD169 lineage reporter to track TBM origin & cellular dynamics by intravital microscopy @INCITeCentre. The idea for CD169 came from work in Cyster lab @UCSF back in 2007. We had noted some CD169+ SSM migrated into follicle after immunization.
3/ But "tingible" bodies are in fact corpses of dead & dying B cells from GC selection. Removing the potentially self-reactive nuclear & cytoplasmic debris from these cells is critical housekeeping function to prevent autoimmune diseases like SLE. How does this work?