title: Understanding the initiation of B cell signaling through live cell imaging.
abstract: Antibody responses are initiated by the binding of antigens to clonally distributed cell surface B cell receptors (BCRs) that trigger signaling cascades resulting in B cell activation. Using conventional biochemical approaches, the components of the downstream BCR signaling pathways have been described in considerable detail. However, far less is known about the early molecular events by which the binding of antigens to the BCRs initiates BCR signaling. With the recent advent of high resolution, high speed, live cell, and single molecule imaging technologies, these events are just beginning to be elucidated. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the initiation of BCR signaling may provide new targets for therapeutics to block dysregulated BCR signaling in systemic autoimmune diseases and in B cell tumors and to aid in the design of protein subunit vaccines. In this chapter, we describe the general procedures for using these new imaging techniques to investigate the early events in the initiation of BCR signaling.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunogenetics, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
authors.forename: Angel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunogenetics, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
authors.forename: Wanli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunogenetics, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
authors.forename: Hae Won
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Sohn
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunogenetics, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brzostowski
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunogenetics, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
authors.forename: Susan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Pierce
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell