Selection events in directing B cell development.
Homeostasis in the B cell compartment (as well as in T cells) is controlled by tightly regulated selection events. Throughout their life span, B cells are subjected to selection signals determining not only developmental progression, but also maturation and survival. It is now clear that most of these signals require the expression of B cell antigen receptor (or preB receptor) with functional signaling capacity. The administration of numerous mutations into the mouse germline enabled us to identify several checkpoints along the B cell developmental pathway, and provided us with powerful experimental tools to probe for selection events regulating developmental progression. In here, we will discuss recent studies in this field.
Seagal
J
J
Department of Immunology, Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Melamed
D
D
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology
D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell