| First Author | Smith KG | Year | 1994 |
| Journal | Immunity | Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | 803-13 |
| PubMed ID | 7895168 | Mgi Jnum | J:189420 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5445497 | Doi | 10.1016/s1074-7613(94)80022-7 |
| Citation | Smith KG, et al. (1994) Bcl-2 increases memory B cell recruitment but does not perturb selection in germinal centers. Immunity 1(9):803-13 |
| abstractText | To address the role of apoptosis in the humoral immune response, we have examined a well-characterized T cell-dependent B cell response in mice expressing transgenic Bcl-2 in their B lymphocytes. The selection of somatic mutants and the appearance of high affinity antibodies was not affected by constitutive Bcl-2 expression. Such expression did, however, disproportionately increase the antigen-specific memory B cell pool, suggesting that the final size of the memory compartment may be regulated by an apoptotic process, which, in turn, can be influenced by Bcl-2. In addition, transgenic mice showed prolonged survival of foci of early antibody-producing cells, suggesting their removal is mediated by apoptosis that can be blocked by Bcl-2. |
