| First Author | Wong JB | Year | 2019 |
| Journal | Nat Commun | Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 1 | Pages | 4768 |
| PubMed ID | 31628339 | Mgi Jnum | J:282230 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6378111 | Doi | 10.1038/s41467-019-12824-z |
| Citation | Wong JB, et al. (2019) B-1a cells acquire their unique characteristics by bypassing the pre-BCR selection stage. Nat Commun 10(1):4768 |
| abstractText | B-1a cells are long-lived, self-renewing innate-like B cells that predominantly inhabit the peritoneal and pleural cavities. In contrast to conventional B-2 cells, B-1a cells have a receptor repertoire that is biased towards bacterial and self-antigens, promoting a rapid response to infection and clearing of apoptotic cells. Although B-1a cells are known to primarily originate from fetal tissues, the mechanisms by which they arise has been a topic of debate for many years. Here we show that in the fetal liver versus bone marrow environment, reduced IL-7R/STAT5 levels promote immunoglobulin kappa gene recombination at the early pro-B cell stage. As a result, differentiating B cells can directly generate a mature B cell receptor (BCR) and bypass the requirement for a pre-BCR and pairing with surrogate light chain. This 'alternate pathway' of development enables the production of B cells with self-reactive, skewed specificity receptors that are peculiar to the B-1a compartment. Together our findings connect seemingly opposing lineage and selection models of B-1a cell development and explain how these cells acquire their unique properties. |
