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Review
. 2022 Jul;14(4):e1554.
doi: 10.1002/wsbm.1554. Epub 2022 Apr 5.

Genetic obstacles to developing and tolerizing human B cells

Kim Nguyen  1 , Nouf Alsaati  1 , Carole Le Coz  1 , Neil Romberg  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

Genetic obstacles to developing and tolerizing human B cells

Kim Nguyen et al. WIREs Mech Dis. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Early in development, B cells explosively diversify B-cell receptors (BCRs) to recognize a wide variety of microbial antigens. A variety of developmental and tolerance checkpoints are subsequently deployed at later developmental stages to purge useless or potentially dangerous autoreactive B-cell clones. Once B cells recognize cognate antigens within secondary lymphoid tissues, their BCRs are genetically modified to increase the specificity and strength of antigen binding. Identification and investigation of monogenic inborn errors of immunity (IEI) diseases demonstrate which specific molecules and pathways are essential for developing well-tolerized human B cells. Although rare, IEI patients have provided important mechanistic insights into, and therapeutic clues for, patients afflicted with more common autoantibody associated autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes. This article is categorized under: Immune System Diseases > Stem Cells and Development > Genetics/Genomics/Epigenetics.

Keywords: B cell; germinal center; immune tolerance; inborn error of immunity.

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References

FURTHER READING
    1. Immunodeficiency search (https://www.immunodeficiencysearch.com) is an excellent, up to date, online reference for practicing (and aspiring) clinical immunologists.
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