Gene repression by Pax5 in B cells is essential for blood cell homeostasis and is reversed in plasma cells.

The transcription factor Pax5 represses lineage-inappropriate genes and activates B cell-specific genes in B lymphocytes. By identifying 110 Pax5-repressed genes, we now demonstrate that Pax5 downregulates diverse biological activities including receptor signaling, cell adhesion, migration, transcriptional control, and cellular metabolism at B cell commitment. The T lymphoid or myeloid expression of these genes demonstrates that Pax5(-/-) pro-B cells and common lymphoid progenitors display lymphoid and myeloid promiscuity of gene expression. These lineage-inappropriate genes require continuous Pax5 activity for their repression, as they are reactivated in committed pro-B cells and mature B cells following conditional Pax5 deletion. Pax5-repressed genes are also reexpressed in plasma cells, which depend for normal function on Cd28 and Ccr2 reactivation. The loss of Pax5 during terminal differentiation thus contributes to the plasma cell transcription program. Finally, ectopic expression of the Pax5-repressed chemokine gene Ccl3 in B cells results in increased osteoclast formation and bone loss, demonstrating that Pax5-mediated gene repression is essential for normal homeostasis of hematopoietic development.