Growing up on the streets: why B-cell development differs from T-cell development.
B-cell development differs significantly from T-cell development in that negative selection of autoreactive B cells can occur in the same microenvironment in which productive immune responses begin. Here, Sarah Townsend and colleagues discuss how this 'growing up on the streets' might provide a mechanism that fills holes in the B-cell repertoire, much as major histocompatibility complex polymorphism fills holes in the T-cell repertoire.
D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens; D015551:Autoimmunity; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*