Age-associated changes in the B-cell repertoire: effect of age on RAG-1 gene expression in murine bone marrow

The available repertoire of B cells that develop early or late in life reflects the restricted recombination of 5' immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region genes. In addition, autoantibody reactivity is overrepresented in the preferentially recombined 3' Vh gene families, resulting in over representation of autoreactive antibody specificities. The preferential utilization of 3' Vh gene families is associated with, and perhaps caused by, the reduced expression of the RAG-1 gene. One can only speculate what effect the induction of RAG-1 activity in the bone marrow of old mice would have on their antibody repertoire.