B cells can be divided into effector and regulatory immune cells. While effector B cells are key drivers of humoral immunity due to their ability to generate antibodies specific to pathogens, regulatory B cells (Bregs) have recently been shown to control inflammatory responses in multiple diseases through the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-10, IL-35 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-b). Ex vivo expansion of B cells has been challenging due to their tendency to undergo apoptosis in culture. Thus, creating a successful expansion protocol with exceptional viability will open the door for B cells to be used directly for adoptive therapy or as a source of antibody production ex vivo. Furthermore, a strategy to preferentially expand Bregs may be an attractive approach to mitigate autoimmune disorders and graft-versus-host disease. The primary goal of this thesis project is to understand factors that skew B cell function and to develop a protocol for the expansion of Bregs with immunomodulatory properties for cell therapy. We hypothesized that using genetic engineering tools we can skew the function of B cells toward a suppressive phenotype and support their ex vivo proliferation and survival to generate a viable subset of Bregs for cell therapy. We successfully generated B cells that displayed suppressive capabilities and used mass cytometry to characterize their phenotype. However, the immunoregulatory function of B cells was transient. Interrogation of the expanded B cells at the single cell level revealed multiple markers that could potentially be modified to maintain the suppressive capacity of the in vitro expanded B cells for future cell therapy application
","abstract_html":"<p>B cells can be divided into effector and regulatory immune cells. While effector B cells are key drivers of humoral immunity due to their ability to generate antibodies specific to pathogens, regulatory B cells (Bregs) have recently been shown to control inflammatory responses in multiple diseases through the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-10, IL-35 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-b). Ex vivo expansion of B cells has been challenging due to their tendency to undergo apoptosis in culture. Thus, creating a successful expansion protocol with exceptional viability will open the door for B cells to be used directly for adoptive therapy or as a source of antibody production ex vivo. Furthermore, a strategy to preferentially expand Bregs may be an attractive approach to mitigate autoimmune disorders and graft-versus-host disease. The primary goal of this thesis project is to understand factors that skew B cell function and to develop a protocol for the expansion of Bregs with immunomodulatory properties for cell therapy. We hypothesized that using genetic engineering tools we can skew the function of B cells toward a suppressive phenotype and support their ex vivo proliferation and survival to generate a viable subset of Bregs for cell therapy. We successfully generated B cells that displayed suppressive capabilities and used mass cytometry to characterize their phenotype. However, the immunoregulatory function of B cells was transient. Interrogation of the expanded B cells at the single cell level revealed multiple markers that could potentially be modified to maintain the suppressive capacity of the in vitro expanded B cells for future cell therapy application</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ensley, Emily","https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4212-2260
"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Masters of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis (MS)","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Katayoun Rezvani, M.D. Ph.D.","Richard Eric Davis, M.D.","Vahid Afshar-Khargan, M.D."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:49:30Z","subjects":["b cells","Immunotherapy","Regulatory B cells","T cells","Bregs","CytoF","cell therapy","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/1074","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Katayoun Rezvani, M.D. Ph.D.","Richard Eric Davis, M.D.","Vahid Afshar-Khargan, M.D."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ensley, Emily","https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4212-2260
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"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Engineering B Cells For Use In Immunotherapy and Cancer"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Katayoun Rezvani, M.D. Ph.D.","Richard Eric Davis, M.D.","Vahid Afshar-Khargan, M.D."],"dc:creator":["Ensley, Emily","https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4212-2260
"],"dc:date.available":["2022-04-21T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["B cells can be divided into effector and regulatory immune cells. While effector B cells are key drivers of humoral immunity due to their ability to generate antibodies specific to pathogens, regulatory B cells (Bregs) have recently been shown to control inflammatory responses in multiple diseases through the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-10, IL-35 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-b). Ex vivo expansion of B cells has been challenging due to their tendency to undergo apoptosis in culture. Thus, creating a successful expansion protocol with exceptional viability will open the door for B cells to be used directly for adoptive therapy or as a source of antibody production ex vivo. Furthermore, a strategy to preferentially expand Bregs may be an attractive approach to mitigate autoimmune disorders and graft-versus-host disease. The primary goal of this thesis project is to understand factors that skew B cell function and to develop a protocol for the expansion of Bregs with immunomodulatory properties for cell therapy. We hypothesized that using genetic engineering tools we can skew the function of B cells toward a suppressive phenotype and support their ex vivo proliferation and survival to generate a viable subset of Bregs for cell therapy. We successfully generated B cells that displayed suppressive capabilities and used mass cytometry to characterize their phenotype. However, the immunoregulatory function of B cells was transient. Interrogation of the expanded B cells at the single cell level revealed multiple markers that could potentially be modified to maintain the suppressive capacity of the in vitro expanded B cells for future cell therapy application
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/utgsbs_dissertations/1074"],"dc:subject":["b cells","Immunotherapy","Regulatory B cells","T cells","Bregs","CytoF","cell therapy","Medicine and Health Sciences"],"dc:title":["Engineering B Cells For Use In Immunotherapy and Cancer"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (MS)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Masters of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:49:30Z"}