title: Ectopic GC in the thymus of myasthenia gravis patients show characteristics of normal GC.
abstract: Young patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) frequently have ectopic GC in their thymus. We investigated these ectopic GC by microdissection of GC B cells and analysis of their Ig gene characteristics, in comparison to normal GC. CDR3 length distribution, a measure of clonal variability, and Ig gene family usage were similar in MG and normal tonsil samples. Lineage tree analysis demonstrated similar diversification and mutations per cell compared with normal control trees. Mutations were observed in the framework regions, responsible for the structural integrity of the BCR; however, these mutations were mostly conservative or neutral, confirming that a functional BCR is conserved in MG. In the CDR, responsible for Ag binding, selection against replacement mutations was revealed. This may indicate that the MG clones analyzed are already highly Ag-specific, and therefore potential affinity-reducing replacement mutations in the CDR3 are not propagated, due to Ag-driven selection. Somatic hypermutation (SHM) targeting motifs and aa substitution preferences in MG were similar to those of normal controls. Overall, these results suggest that B cells in the ectopic GC in MG appear to undergo normal diversification and selection, in spite of the chronic nature and different environment of the response.
authors.affiliation: The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Neta S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Zuckerman
authors.forename: Wendy A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Jacky
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bismuth
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gibson
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Edelman
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berrih-Aknin
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dunn-Walters
authors.forename: Ramit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mehr
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002828:Choristoma / Q000473:pathology*; D017637:Clonal Deletion; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005260:Female; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D018858:Germinal Center / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D009928:Organ Specificity; D014066:Palatine Tonsil / Q000166:cytology; D027041:Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin; D013934:Thymectomy; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult