Anergic responses characterize a large fraction of human autoreactive naive B cells expressing low levels of surface IgM.

ABSTRACT: B cell anergy represents an important mechanism of peripheral immunological tolerance for mature autoreactive B cells that escape central tolerance enforced by receptor editing and clonal deletion. Although well documented in mice, the extent of its participation in human B cell tolerance remains to be fully established. In this study, we characterize the functional behavior of strictly defined human naive B cells separated on the basis of their surface IgM (sIgM) expression levels. We demonstrate that cells with lower sIgM levels (IgM(lo)) are impaired in their ability to flux calcium in response to either anti-IgM or anti-IgD cross-linking and contain a significantly increased frequency of autoreactive cells compared with naive B cells with higher levels of sIgM. Phenotypically, in healt

SUBMITTER: Quach TD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3095097 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature