MINI REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. B Cell Biology
This article is part of the Research TopicGene Regulation in Lymphocyte Development and ResponseView all 8 articles
Regulation of B cell Development and Lymphocyte Function by Transcription Coactivator OCA-B
Provisionally accepted
- The Rockefeller University, New York City, United States
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OCA-B (OCT Coactivator from B cells) is highly expressed in B cells and is the first-identified tissue-specific transcriptional coactivator. Mechanistically, OCA-B is recruited to target genes through primary interactions with DNA-binding transcription factors OCT1/OCT2, as well as secondary interactions with MEF2B, and its effector functions in activating transcription involve interactions with the Mediator coactivator complex. Physiologically, OCA-B plays an essential role in antigen-stimulated Germinal Center (GC) formation and transcription of secondary immunoglobulin (Ig) genes. OCA-B also regulates bone marrow and peripheral B cell development. While GC B cell-specific inactivation of Oca-B is sufficient to cause GC defects, OCA-B function in follicular T helper (Tfh) cells also plays an important role in GC reactions. In GC B cells, OCA-B–dependent genes include known GC regulatory genes such as Bcl6, Mef2b and Irf4. In CD4+ memory T cells, OCA-B is required to maintain a subset of genes, including Il2, in a transcriptionally poised state, enabling their rapid and robust up-regulation upon repeated stimulation. Moreover, recent studies have indicated an essential role for OCA-B in B-cell malignancy and multiple autoimmune diseases, highlighting OCA-B as a potential therapeutic target for these diseases.
Keywords: B cell development, BCL6, coactivator, Follicular T helper cells, Germinal Center, memory T cell, OCA-B, transcriptional regulation .
Received: 09 Dec 2025; Accepted: 13 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Roeder and Lu. 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) or licensor 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.
* Correspondence:
Robert Roeder
Xiangdong Lu
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