Journal
NATURE REVIEWS IMMUNOLOGY
Volume 9, Issue 12, Pages 845-857Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nri2637
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Funding
- Australian National Health and Medical Research Council
- Viertel Senior Medical Research Fellowship
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES [R37AI049660, U19AI056390] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
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In germinal centres, somatic hypermutation and B cell selection increase antibody affinity and specificity for the immunizing antigen, but the generation of autoreactive B cells is an inevitable by-product of this process. Here, we review the evidence that aberrant selection of these autoreactive B cells can arise from abnormalities in each of the germinal centre cellular constituents-B cells, T follicular helper cells, follicular dendritic cells and tingible body macrophages-or in the supply of antigen. As the progeny of germinal centre B cells includes long-lived plasma cells, selection of autoreactive B cells can propagate long-lived autoantibody responses and cause autoimmune diseases. Elucidation of crucial molecular signals in germinal centres has led to the identification of novel therapeutic targets.
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