IMMUNOLOGY2026™ Conference Recordings For Attendees-Glucose Uptake by Germinal Center B Cells Selectively Sustains Autoimmunity While Sparing Responses to Foreign Antigens

Glucose Uptake by Germinal Center B Cells Selectively Sustains Autoimmunity While Sparing Responses to Foreign Antigens

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The speaker, Ormi, presented research on how glucose uptake through GLUT1 affects germinal center B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She explained that lupus autoantibodies are produced by germinal center-derived, class-switched B cells, making germinal centers central to disease. Her lab found that blocking glycolysis suppresses autoreactive responses more than foreign antigen responses. Using a germinal center B-cell-specific GLUT1 knockout mouse, she showed reduced germinal center expansion, smaller splenic germinal centers, fewer plasma cells, and less autoantibody production in lupus-prone mice, while normal foreign-antigen responses and affinity maturation were largely preserved. In an induced lupus model, GLUT1 loss prevented splenomegaly, germinal center expansion, and autoantibody formation. Early in vitro data suggest GLUT1 is upregulated in class-switching cells, supporting a role in sustaining autoimmunity. Overall, GLUT1-dependent glucose uptake appears necessary for pathogenic lupus B-cell responses but less important for protective immunity.

Meta Tag

Date April 19, 2026 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM

Room 151

Session Regulation of B Cell Responses

Speaker Urmi Hofland

Track Immune Response Regulation: Molecular Mechanisms (IRM)

Year 2026

Keywords

GLUT1

germinal center B cells

systemic lupus erythematosus

autoantibody production

glucose uptake

April 19, 2026 9:45 AM - 10:00 AM

151

Regulation of B Cell Responses

Urmi Hofland

Immune Response Regulation: Molecular Mechanisms (IRM)

2026