| First Author | Perera J | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Cell Rep | Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 2 | Pages | 387-398 |
| PubMed ID | 27705788 | Mgi Jnum | J:240664 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5888851 | Doi | 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.011 |
| Citation | Perera J, et al. (2016) Self-Antigen-Driven Thymic B Cell Class Switching Promotes T Cell Central Tolerance. Cell Rep 17(2):387-398 |
| abstractText | B cells are unique antigen-presenting cells because their antigen presentation machinery is closely tied to the B cell receptor. Autoreactive thymic B cells can efficiently present cognate self-antigens to mediate CD4+ T cell-negative selection. However, the nature of thymocyte-thymic B cell interaction and how this interaction affects the selection of thymic B cell repertoire and, in turn, the T cell repertoire are not well understood. Here we demonstrate that a large percentage of thymic B cells have undergone class switching intrathymically. Thymic B cell class switching requires cognate interaction with specific T cells. Class-switched thymic B cells have a distinct repertoire compared with unswitched thymic B cells or splenic B cells. Particularly, autoreactive B cell specificities preferentially expand in the thymus by undergoing class switching, and these enriched, class-switched autoreactive thymic B cells play an important role in CD4 T cell tolerance. |
