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. 2024 Sep 2;15:1419527. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1419527

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Copyright © 2024 Seefeld, Templeton, Lehtinen, Sinclair, Yadav and Hartwell

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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UPPER RESPIRATORY TRACT. (A) Nasal anatomy and location of NALT: Murine nasal anatomy consists of the naso-, ethmo-, and maxilo- turbinates (NT, ET, MT, respectively). The nasal-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) is found medially in the hard palate, positioned proximal to the ethmoturbinates. (B) Germinal center formation and immune priming in NALT (1). Antigen uptake across follicle-associated epithelium (FAE) results in (2) activated B cell class switch recombination (CSR) in the subepithelial dome (SED) signaled by DCs or by T cells. Class switched B cells preferentially form IgA through TGF-b signaling, (and (3) seed germinal centers (GCs) in the B cell zone of the NALT where somatic hypermutation (SHM) occurs (4). B cells within the GC compete for T follicular helper (Tfh) cell signaling which results either in the return to GCs or (5) B cell differentiation towards memory B cells, plasma cells, or apoptosis (6). Differentiated B cells migrate through high endothelial venules (HEVs) and lymphatics to turbinates where they reside as IgA-secreting cells. (Created with BioRender.com).