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The pre-B cell receptor checkpoint

Inga-Lill Mårtensson1, Nina Almqvist, Ola Grimsholm

  • 1Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. lill.martensson@rheuma.gu.se

FEBS Letters
|April 28, 2010
PubMed

B lymphocytes are essential antibody-producing cells of the immune system. During the development of progenitor B cells to mature B cells that express a membrane-bound antibody, the B cell receptor (BCR), the cells undergo selection at several checkpoints, which ensures that a diverse antibody repertoire is generated and that the BCRs recognise foreign-, but not self-, antigens. In this review, we consider the pre-BCR checkpoint. Mutations or alterations that affect this checkpoint underpin the development of pre-B cell leukemias, primary immunodeficiency, and possibly, systemic autoimmunity.

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