| First Author | Kuwahara K | Year | 2000 |
| Journal | Blood | Volume | 95 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | 2321-8 |
| PubMed ID | 10733502 | Mgi Jnum | J:62649 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1859419 | Doi | 10.1182/blood.v95.7.2321.007k33_2321_2328 |
| Citation | Kuwahara K, et al. (2000) A novel nuclear phosphoprotein, GANP, is up-regulated in centrocytes of the germinal center and associated with MCM3, a protein essential for DNA replication. Blood 95(7):2321-8 |
| abstractText | Antigen (Ag) immunization induces formation of the germinal center (GC), with large, rapidly proliferating centroblasts in the dark zone, and small, nondividing centrocytes in the light zone. We identified a novel nuclear protein, GANP, that is up-regulated in centrocytes. We found that GANP was up-regulated in GC B cells of Peyer's patches in normal mice and in spleens from Ag-immunized mice. GANP-positive cells appeared in the light zone of the GC, with coexpression of the peanut agglutinin (PNA) (PNA)-positive B220-positive phenotype. The expression of GANP was strikingly correlated with GC formation because Bcl6-deficient mice did not show the up-regulation of GANP. GANP-positive cells were mostly surrounded by follicular dendritic cells. Stimulation with anti-&mgr; and anti-CD40 induced up-regulation of ganp messenger RNA as well as GANP protein in B220-positive B cells in vitro. GANP is a 210-kd protein localized in both the cytoplasm and nuclei, with a homologous region to Map80 that is associated with MCM3, a protein essential for DNA replication. Remarkably, GANP is associated with MCM3 in B cells and MCM3 is also up-regulated in the GC area. These results suggest that the up-regulation of GANP might participate in the development of Ag-driven B cells in GCs through its interaction with MCM3. |
