title: Atypical VH-D-JH rearrangements in newborn autoimmune MRL mice.
abstract: Antinuclear Abs are the hallmark of the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The ability of self reactive autoantibodies to bind to DNA and nucleosomes is partly conferred by an increased number of arginine and asparagine residues in the heavy chain third complementarity determining region. This increased content of cationic residues is primarily the result of unusual VH-D-JH rearrangements, which include D-D fusions and D gene inversions. While self Ag-driven clonal expansion is a major contributor to the production of antinuclear Abs in lupus, we explore in this study the hypothesis that newly emerging B cells from autoimmune mice display more frequently these unusual VH-D-JH rearrangements. To this end, libraries of PCR-generated VH-D-JH junctions from MRL and C3H newborn livers were analyzed. When compared with the C3H controls, D and JH gene usage in MRL junctions suggests a greater frequency of secondary D-JH rearrangements in this strain. Furthermore, B cells from the autoimmune-prone MRL mice have significantly increased numbers of atypical VH-D-JH rearrangements (D-D fusions and D inversions). Therefore, B cells from MRL mice manifest intrinsic defects that could confer an increased propensity to produce unusual VH-D-JH rearrangements early in ontogeny.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA.
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Klonowski
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Primiano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Monestier
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000235:genetics; D000916:Antibody Diversity; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015326:Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte, Heavy Chain; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D019463:Mice, Inbred MRL lpr; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction