title: New insights into the regulation of human B-cell differentiation.
abstract: B lymphocytes provide the cellular basis of the humoral immune response. All stages of this process, from B-cell activation to formation of germinal centers and differentiation into memory B cells or plasma cells, are influenced by extrinsic signals and controlled by transcriptional regulation. Compared to naïve B cells, memory B cells display a distinct expression profile, which allows for their rapid secondary responses. Indisputably, many B-cell malignancies result from aberrations in the circuitry controlling B-cell function, particularly during the germinal centre (GC) reaction. Here, we review new insights into memory B-cell subtypes, recent literature on transcription factors regulating human B-cell differentiation and further evidence for B-cell lymphomagenesis emanating from errors during GC cell reactions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmidlin
authors.forename: Sean A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Diehl
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blom
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology; D018858:Germinal Center / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D016393:Lymphoma, B-Cell / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors