title: Regulatory constraints in the generation and differentiation of IgE-expressing B cells.
abstract: B cells expressing antibodies of the immunoglobulin E (IgE) isotype are rare, yet are heavily implicated in the pathogenesis of allergies and asthma. This review discusses recent methodological advances that permit sensitive probing of IgE-expressing (IgE(+)) B cells in vivo and have accordingly clarified the basic behavior and fate of IgE(+) B cells during immune responses in mouse models. IgE antibody secreting plasma cells can arise from extrafollicular foci, germinal centers, and memory B cells. However, compared to B cells expressing other isotypes, IgE(+) B cells are susceptible to multiple additional regulatory constraints that restrict the size of the IgE(+) B cell pool at each stage, coordinately limiting the overall magnitude, affinity, and duration of the IgE antibody response.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Institute and Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Institute and Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors.forename: Marcus J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Institute and Sandler Asthma Basic Research Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA; Department of Anatomy and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. Electronic address: Chris.Allen@ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Christopher D C
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Allen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D018858:Germinal Center / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D017578:Immunoglobulin Class Switching; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007073:Immunoglobulin E