title: Plasma cells: finding new light at the end of B cell development.
abstract: Plasma cells are cellular factories devoted entirely to the manufacture and export of a single product: soluble immunoglobulin (Ig). As the final mediators of a humoral response, plasma cells play a critical role in adaptive immunity. Although intense effort has been devoted to studying the regulation and requirements for early B cell development, little information has been available on plasma cells. However, more recent work-including studies on genetically altered mice and data from microarray analyses-has begun to identify the regulatory cascades that initiate and maintain the plasma cell phenotype. This review will summarize our current understanding of the molecules that regulate commitment to a plasma cell fate and those that mediate plasma cell function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY 10032, USA. klc1@columbia.edu
authors.forename: K L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Calame
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte / Q000378:metabolism; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D051379:Mice; D018448:Models, Immunological; D010950:Plasma Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine / Q000378:metabolism; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D019707:Receptors, Chemokine; D014157:Transcription Factors