| First Author | Vettermann C | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 181 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 3232-42 |
| PubMed ID | 18713994 | Mgi Jnum | J:138952 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3806902 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.181.5.3232 |
| Citation | Vettermann C, et al. (2008) A unique role for the lambda5 nonimmunoglobulin tail in early B lymphocyte development. J Immunol 181(5):3232-42 |
| abstractText | Precursor BCR (pre-BCR) signaling governs proliferation and differentiation of pre-B cells during B lymphocyte development. However, it is controversial as to which parts of the pre-BCR, which is composed of Igmu H chain, surrogate L chain (SLC), and Igalpha-Igbeta, are important for signal initiation. Here, we show in transgenic mice that the N-terminal non-Ig-like (unique) tail of the surrogate L chain component lambda5 is critical for enhancing pre-BCR-induced proliferation signals. Pre-BCRs with a mutated lambda5 unique tail are still transported to the cell surface, but they deliver only basal signals that trigger survival and differentiation of pre-B cells. Further, we demonstrate that the positively charged residues of the lambda5 unique tail, which are required for pre-BCR self-oligomerization, can also mediate binding to stroma cell-associated self-Ags, such as heparan sulfate. These findings establish the lambda5 unique tail as a pre-BCR-specific autoreactive signaling motif that could increase the size of the primary Ab repertoire by selectively expanding pre-B cells with functional Igmu H chains. |
