Cloning, purification and characterization of B cell Activating Factor
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Authors
Paul, Caitlin
Issue Date
2008
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
In animals, the antibody repertoire of B cells plays an
important role in immune protection. In rabbits, immune B
cells develop in the bone marrow and migrate to the gut
associated lymphoid tissues (GALT), where, in the
presence of commensal bacteria, they are stimulated to
proliferate, form organized follicles and develop the
primary antibody repertoire by Ig gene diversification.
While the molecular events leading to Ig gene
diversification in the bone marrow are well understood,
little is known about the mechanisms regulating B cell
proliferation and homeostasis in GALT. Possible
mechanisms are shown in Figure 1. In a previous study to test whether B cell activating factor
(BAFF) may play a role in stimulating GALT B cells,
endogenous BAFF was neutralized in vivo using a soluble
decoy receptor. This treatment greatly reduced the
number and size of proliferating B cell follicles,
demonstrating that BAFF is required for B cell
development in GALT. However, it was not clear from this
study whether BAFF provided a proliferation signal or
survival signal. Therefore to address this question, I
cloned, expressed and purified recombinant rabbit BAFF
from E. coli, and tested its affect on B cells in vitro
Description
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo, Mich. : Kalamazoo College.
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.