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Updated: May 12, 2026

Examination of Thymic Positive and Negative Selection by Flow Cytometry
Published on: October 8, 2012
Developmental regulation of B lymphocyte immune tolerance compartmentalizes clonal selection from receptor selection
D Melamed1, R J Benschop, J C Cambier
1Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80206, USA.
Abstract:
B lymphocyte development is a highly ordered process that involves immunoglobulin gene rearrangements, antigen receptor expression, and a learning process that minimizes the development of cells with reactivity to self tissue. Two distinct mechanisms for immune tolerance have been defined that operate during early bone marrow stages of B cell development: apoptosis, which eliminates clones of cells, and receptor editing, which spares the cells but genetically reprograms their autoreactive antigen receptors through nested immunoglobulin L chain gene rearrangements. We show here that sensitivity to antigen-induced apoptosis arises relatively late in B cell development and is preceded by a functionally distinct developmental stage capable of receptor editing. This regulation compartmentalizes clonal selection from receptor selection.
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