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Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Interrogating Individual Autoreactive Germinal Centers by Photoactivation in a Mixed Chimeric Model of Autoimmunity
Published on: April 11, 2019
Influence of B cell antigen receptor expression level on pathways of B cell tolerance induction
Xiaohe Liu1, Shixue Shen, Tim Manser
1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA.
Abstract:
We have described an Ig-transgenic, autoreactive B cell clonotype that undergoes a novel tolerance pathway. Early in development this clonotype expresses average BCR levels, but these levels are progressively down-regulated as development proceeds efficiently to the mature, follicular compartment. This clonotype does not display conventional features of anergy and can be induced to undergo apoptosis and receptor editing in in vitro bone marrow cultures, but these pathways are not taken in vivo. These data suggested that autoantigen-driven down-regulation of BCR levels and, hence, avidity for autoantigen allows this clonotype to bypass conventional tolerance mechanisms. To test this idea, we enforced elevated levels of expression of BCR in this clonotype by making the transgenic Igh locus homozygous. This resulted in retarded clonotype development and L chain receptor editing in vivo. These data support a pivotal role for adaptive, autoantigen-induced adjustment of BCR expression levels in the regulation of primary B cell development and tolerance.
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