title: Chicken B-cell-activating factor: regulator of B-cell survival in the bursa of fabricius.
abstract: Previous studies on mammals have demonstrated that a tumour necrosis factor family member, B-cell-activating factor (BAFF) (BlyS, TALL-1), is mainly produced by myeloid and dendritic cells and that BAFF promotes B-cell differentiation and survival in a paracrine fashion. We have recently shown that BAFF is upregulated at the bursal stage of the avian B-cell development. We now show that the avian bursal B cells and B-cell lines, RP-9, RP-13 and DT40, express chicken BAFF (cBAFF). In situ hybridization confirms strong cBAFF expression within the bursal follicles. Like mammals, cBAFF is expressed in the avian myeloblast and myelomonocytic cell lines but not in the peripheral blood alphabeta and gammadelta T cells. The binding of recombinant human BAFF (hBAFF) to the bursal B-cells indicates a conserved receptor-ligand binding. Furthermore, the recombinant hBAFF has a positive effect on bursal cell proliferation and transiently inhibits cell death in vitro. In conclusion, cBAFF is highly conserved structurally, but as a novel observation we suggest cBAFF to function in an autocrine fashion to promote the growth and maturation of follicular B cells in bursa of Fabricius.
authors.affiliation: Turku Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koskela
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nieminen
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kohonen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Salminen
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lassila
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D053264:B-Cell Activating Factor; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002060:Bursa of Fabricius / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002645:Chickens / Q000276:immunology*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D053264:B-Cell Activating Factor; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C505719:TNFSF13B protein, human; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha