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Induction and Assessment of Class Switch Recombination in Purified Murine B Cells
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Plasmacytoid dendritic cells and the regulation of immunoglobulin heavy chain class switching

Andrea Cerutti1, Xugang Qiao, Bing He

  • 1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weiil Medical College of Cornell University, New York, New York 10021, USA. acerutti@med.cornell.edu

Immunology and Cell Biology
|September 22, 2005
PubMed

By substituting the heavy chain constant region of IgM and IgD with that of IgG, IgA or IgE, immunoglobulin class switching endows antibodies with novel effector functions that enhance the ability of the immune system to effectively clear invading pathogens. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells critically link innate immunity with adaptive immunity by producing massive amounts of type 1 IFN in response to viruses. We have recently found that type 1 IFN triggers class switching by inducing myeloid dendritic cells to upregulate the expression of BAFF and APRIL, two powerful B cell-activating molecules. In this paper, we propose that IFN-producing plasmacytoid dendritic cells modulate class switching by activating B cells through both T cell-dependent and T cell-independent pathways. A better understanding of these pathways may facilitate the development of novel antiviral vaccine strategies and aid in identifying new therapies for antibody-mediated autoimmune disorders, such as lupus.

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