The pre-B-cell receptor: selector of fitting immunoglobulin heavy chains for the B-cell repertoire
In this Opinion article, I address the role of the pre-B-cell receptor (pre-BCR) in the development of antigen-specific B cells in terms of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) variable-region repertoire selection, precursor B-cell differentiation and proliferation, and IgH allelic exclusion. Comparison...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Nature reviews. Immunology 2005-07, Vol.5 (7), p.578-584 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | In this Opinion article, I address the role of the pre-B-cell receptor (pre-BCR) in the development of antigen-specific B cells in terms of immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) variable-region repertoire selection, precursor B-cell differentiation and proliferation, and IgH allelic exclusion. Comparisons with the role of the pre-T-cell receptor (pre-TCR) in T-cell development raise provocative questions. Why do B- and T-cell lineages both use a surrogate chain — the surrogate light chain and the pre-TCR α-chain, respectively — as a step to develop their repertoires of antigen-recognizing cells? What are the functions of the pre-BCR and pre-TCR in lymphocyte differentiation and antigen-receptor allelic exclusion? This article, together with the accompanying article by Harald von Boehmer, hopes to answer some of these questions. |
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ISSN: | 1474-1733 1474-1741 |
DOI: | 10.1038/nri1649 |