The late news on baff in autoimmune diseases

The B cell-activating factor of the tumor-necrosis factor family (BAFF) plays a dominant role in the B cell homeostasis. By rescuing autoreactive B cells, excessive BAFF favors the development of autoimmune diseases. Given the numbers of variants of this B cell-specific cytokine, caution must be exercised when determining its serum level. Alternate splice isoforms, such as Delta 3 BAFF and Delta 4 BAFF, have been identified. They raise the possibility that their overproduction impact the synthesis of full-length BAFF. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.