ection results in a delicate balance between protection and immune reactivity to our own normal tissues. A better understanding of the origin and fate of B cells, which have the ability to generate dangerous autoantibodies that cause autoimmune diseases such as lupus and arthritis, is needed.

Mature B cells that have not been exposed to foreign antigens make immunoglobulin (Ig) M and IgD antibodies. After activation, these B cells can be induced to switch the class of Ig that they make by replacement of IgM and IgD with IgG, IgA, or IgE a phenomenon known as class switching. In less than 3% of B cells, IgM is lost, but IgD is retained, forming Cdelta-CS B cells. In a study appearing online on May 17 in advance of publication in the June print issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Patrick Wilson and colleagues from Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation report that Cdelta-CS B cells are highly reactive to self antigens. Future studies will be important to determine the mechanism by which the majority of Cdelta-CS B cells are autoreactive and may provide insight into the enigmatic function of the IgD antibody, with the goal of understanding the action of autoreactive B cells in autoimmune disease.

TITLE: Mature B cells class switched to IgD are autoreactive in healthy individuals

AUTHOR CONTACT:

Patrick C. Wilson

Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.

Phone : (405) 271-7393 ext. 34556; Fax: (405) 271-8237; E-mail: wilsonp@omrf.ouhsc.edu

View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=27628

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Contact: Brooke Grindlinger
press_releases@the-jci.org
212-342-9006
Journal of Clinical Investigation
17-May-2007


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