title: Role of beta-catenin in B cell development and function.
abstract: beta-Catenin is a central mediator of Wnt signaling pathway, components of which have been implicated in B cell development and function. B cell progenitors and bone marrow stromal cells express Wnt ligands, Frizzled receptors and Wnt antagonists, suggesting fine tuned regulation of this pathway in B cell development. In particular, deletion of Frizzled 9 gene results in developmental defects at the pre-B stage of development and an accumulation of plasma cells. Furthermore, Wnt signals regulate B cell proliferation through lymphocyte enhancer-binding factor-1. However, it is not known whether Wnt signaling in B cell development is mediated by beta-catenin and whether beta-catenin plays a role in mature B cell function. In this report, we show that mice bearing B cell-specific deletion of beta-catenin have normal B cell development in bone marrow and periphery. A modest defect in plasma cell generation in vitro was documented, which correlated with a defective expression of IRF-4 and Blimp-1. However, B cell response to T-dependent and T-independent Ags in vivo was found to be normal. Thus, beta-catenin expression was found to be dispensable for normal B cell development and function.
authors.affiliation: Lymphocyte Development Unit, Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore MD 21224, USA.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: William J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salay
authors.forename: Jenni E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Crowley
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Cancro
authors.forename: Jyoti Misra
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Sen