{
  "abstract": "B-cell activation requires extensive metabolic reprogramming, yet how B cells acquire and utilize extracellular fatty acids and adapt to changes in lipid availability remains poorly understood. Here, we show that B-cell activation and the extracellular lipid environment dynamically regulate B cells. B-cell receptor (BCR) and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) stimulation induced distinct mitochondrial and lipid-handling programs, differentially regulating fatty-acid uptake, cholesterol acquisition, lipid storage and mitochondrial respiration. Disrupting long-chain fatty-acid uptake, acyl-CoA activation, or mitochondrial utilisation impaired B-cell proliferation, demonstrating that multiple steps of fatty-acid metabolism are required for B-cell expansion. However, increasing extracellular fatty-acid availability alone did not enhance proliferation, indicating that fatty-acid acquisition and metabolic utilisation are functionally distinct. B cells also acquired fatty acids directly from adipocytes, identifying the local microenvironment as a potential source of metabolic substrates. In vivo, dietary fatty-acid chain length differentially shaped the germinal-centre response. A long-chain fatty-acid-rich diet increased germinal-centre B cells and T follicular helper cells and induced mitochondrial and transcriptional changes that partially converged with those observed following obesogenic feeding. Circulating lipidomics further revealed shared remodelling of lipid species between long-chain fatty-acid-rich and obesogenic diets, including altered partitioning of stearate-containing lipids. Exogenous fatty acids also modified membrane order in activated B cells, suggesting that lipid availability can influence both metabolic and biophysical properties. Together, these findings establish fatty-acid uptake, activation, and utilization as integral components of B-cell metabolic adaptation and demonstrate that dietary fatty-acid composition can remodel the lipid environment and germinal-centre response.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Centre de Recherche de l'ôHpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Montreal, Canada, Department of Obstetrics-Gynecology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Université de M"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 11,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "B. B. Ngwenyama"
    },
    {
      "name": "L. Bourguignon"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. B. Gianneli"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Benazzouk"
    },
    {
      "name": "M. Laflamme"
    },
    {
      "name": "I. Giacomini"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. K. Nguyen"
    },
    {
      "name": "C. Viau"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. L. Collin"
    },
    {
      "name": "F. Zani"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "J. Blagih"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3nhh01ncwshcy.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.02.756283",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.02.756283v1.full",
  "id": "3nhh01ncwshcy",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.02.756283v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "immunology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1303|Lipid metabolism and biosynthesis"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221137225",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.02.756283v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-02",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3nhh01ncwshcy.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:26:49Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.02.756283",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.02.756283v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:immunology",
      "subfield": "immunology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Fatty acid metabolism and dietary lipid composition shape B-cell responses",
  "title_text": "Fatty acid metabolism and dietary lipid composition shape B-cell responses",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:26:49Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3nhh01ncwshcy",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}