J immunol or The Journal of Immunology is a high quality American scientific journal (Impact factor of 4.718). Every month, she ranks her most read publications. For September, the article “EBV Latency III-Transformed B Cells Are Inducers of Conventional and Unconventional Regulatory T Cells in a PD-L1-Dependent Manner”

published in August 2019 by the team of Jean Feuillard from CRIBL (Control of the response Immune B and Lymphoproliferation) – UMR CNRS 7276, Inserm 1262 was among the first 20.

The Epstein Barr virus infects nearly 95% of the population. In most cases, it is harmless, but it can lead to the development of cancer in some cases. The body’s defense system is based, among other things, on white blood cells: lymphocytes. B cells produce antibodies and T cells recognize and destroy pathogens.

The CRIBL team was thus able to describe the inhibition of the T immune response by the B lymphocyte transformed by the Epstein Barr virus. They postulate that a cancerous B cell behaves like a regulatory B lymphocyte, that is, it is able to regulate other cells of the immune system.

This study positions CRIBL in the thematic field of immune surveillance against cancer and opens up prospects for all B lymphomas with NF-kappa B activation, a factor linked to tumor development. Moreover, this work could not have been completed without the support of the Ligue contre le Cancer.