| First Author | Geraldes P | Year | 2007 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 179 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 1659-68 |
| PubMed ID | 17641032 | Mgi Jnum | J:149947 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3849399 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.179.3.1659 |
| Citation | Geraldes P, et al. (2007) Ig heavy chain promotes mature B cell survival in the absence of light chain. J Immunol 179(3):1659-68 |
| abstractText | Survival of mature B cells is thought to depend on the BCR signaling (BCR) because ablation of either H chain (HC) expression or BCR signaling causes B cells to rapidly disappear. Whether a complete BCR is required for survival of mature B cells is not known. To address this question, we generated a mouse in which we can repress the expression of a transgenic Ig L chain (IgL) by doxycycline (IgL-repressible mouse). Repression of IgL abrogated expression. Surprisingly, however, IgL-negative B cells survived longer than 14 wk, expressed signal-competent HC on the cell's surface, and active unfolded protein response factors. Like postgerminal center B cells, IgL-negative B cells were small lymphocytes, not dividing and expressed Bcl-6. Our results indicate that expression of unpaired HC, as it may occur as a consequence of Ag ligation, somatic hypermutation, or receptor editing, facilitates the survival of cells either by inducing receptor signaling or by inducing unfolded protein response and/or the expression of survival genes such as Bcl-6. |
