Why:
In order for the B cells of the immune system to identify and fight disease pathogens, they produce a protein called activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID). Once a B cell is activated by the presence of a disease pathogen, it begins to make AID which directs and strengthens the B cells’ response to the infection by mutating the antibodies produced by the B cells.
AID was originally thought to be made only by mature B cells and, as previously discovered by Imanishi-Kari and colleagues, in the developing B cells of transgenic mice. In the current article, Imanishi-Kari and colleagues reveal that AID is also made by developing B cells in wild-type, or normal, mice which implies that AID plays a larger role in the immune system than previously thought. Building upon what is already known about B cells, Imanishi-Kari hypothesizes that AID plays a role during B cell development by mutating B cell antibodies and, thereby, preventing B cells from mistaking some healthy human cells as disease pathogens, which is what occurs in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus). Uncovering the presence of AID in developing B cells may offer a new direction for research into autoimmunity and other diseases.
What:
Journal article entitled “Class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation in early mouse B cells are mediated by B cell- and Toll-like receptors”
Where:
Immunity
(doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2007.05.018)
When:
Embargoed article available through EurekAlert. Embargo lifts on July 19, 2007 at 12 noon, ET.
Article to run in July issue of Immunity.
Corresponding author:
Thereza Imanishi-Kari, Tufts University School of Medicine
Authors:
Jin-Hwan Han (1), Shizuo Akira (2), Kathryn Calame (3), Bruce Beutler (4), Erik Selsing (1) and Thereza Imanishi-Kari (1), Researchers in the (1) Program in Immunology and Department of Pathology, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences and Tufts University School of Medicine— Boston, MA, (2) Department of Host Defense and Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University—Osaka 565-0871, Japan, (3) Department of Microbiology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons—New York, NY, and the (4) Department of Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute— La Jolla, CA 92037
About Tufts University School of Medicine
Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in innovative medical education and advanced research. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general medicine, special combined-degree programs in business, health management, public health, bioengineering and international relations, as well as its basic and clinical research at the cellular and molecular level. Ranked among the top in the nation, the School of Medicine is affiliated with four major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities. The Sackler School undertakes research that is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its impact on the advancement of medical science.
Journal
Immunity