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Updated: May 19, 2026
Induction and Assessment of Class Switch Recombination in Purified Murine B Cells
Published on: August 14, 2010
Accessibility control and machinery of immunoglobulin class switch recombination
1The Hart and Louse Lyon Laboratory, Division of Clinical Immunology/Allergy, Department of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, School of Medicine, 90095-1680, USA. kzhang@mednet.ucla.edu
Abstract:
Immunoglobulin (Ig) class switching is a process by which B lymphocytes shift from production of IgM to other Ig classes and subclasses via Ig class switch recombination (CSR). Multiple cellular and molecular processes are involved in CSR. Induction of a given IgH germline transcription initiates CSR processes. Ig germline transcription is selectively activated and induced by specific cytokine(s) via cytokine-specific signal pathways, synergized by CD40 signaling, and optimized by the 3' Ig alpha enhancers through locus control region function. Following Ig germline transcription, the switch-region DNA undergoes conformational changes so that it can serve as an appropriate substrate for nicking and cleavage by switch recombination machinery. Finally, the double-strand breaks in donor and acceptor switch DNAs are processed, repaired, and ligated through a general nonhomologous end join pathway. CSR generates a new transcriptional unit for production of a class-switched Ig isotype.
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