Caractérisation d’une population de lymphocytes B régulateurs en transplantation rénale

Over the last decade, several populations of B cells with regulatory functions have been identified in an increasing number of pathological conditions. Since for several years we have been interested in a population of kidney transplant patients tolerant to their graft, we wanted to explore this regulatory process in these patients. After having shown that tolerant patients had a transcriptional profile with a strong B lymphocyte imprint, we showed that they had a higher number of B cells expressing granzyme B capable of inhibiting the proliferation of effector T cells by a mechanism depending on the contact of the B lymphocyte with its target and on granzyme B. We characterized these B lymphocytes and were able to establish a protocol for the expansion of these cells allowing us to consider their future use in cell therapy.