Control of Recombination Events During Lymphocyte Differentiation: Heavy Chain Variable Region Gene Assembly and Heavy Chain Class Switching

Our recent studies have focused on the organization of immunoglobulin genes in mice and humans and the mechanism and control of the recombination events that are involved in their assembly and expression. This report describes our progress in this area with particular focus on elucidating factors th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1988-01, Vol.546 (1), p.9-24
Main Authors: ALT, FREDERICK W., FERRIER, PIERRE, MALYNN, BARBARA, LUTZKER, STUART, ROTHMAN, PAUL, BERMAN, JEFFREY, BLACKWELL, KEITH, MELLIS, SCOTT, POLLOCK, ROBERTA, FURLEY, ANDREW, RATHBUN, GARY, YANCOPOULOS, GEORGE, LOGTENBERG, TON, MORROW, MAUREEN, COOK, WENDY, HEINKE, BRUCE, SUH, HEIKYUNG
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis of the immune response. Humoral and cellular immunity
Animals
Antibody production
B-Lymphocytes - metabolism
B-Lymphocytes - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Cell Differentiation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fundamental immunology
Genes, Immunoglobulin
Humans
Immunobiology
Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains - biosynthesis
Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains - classification
Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains - genetics
Immunoglobulin Isotypes - biosynthesis
Immunoglobulin Variable Region - genetics
Mice
Recombination, Genetic
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Summary:Our recent studies have focused on the organization of immunoglobulin genes in mice and humans and the mechanism and control of the recombination events that are involved in their assembly and expression. This report describes our progress in this area with particular focus on elucidating factors that influence the generation of the antibody repertoire in normal and diseased states. We present a detailed analysis of the organization of the human VH locus, studies that help to elucidate the nature of the recombination defect in mice with severe combined immunodeficiency, and studies of transgenic mice that focus on the mechanism that regulates tissue-specific variable region gene assembly. In addition, we also characterize mechanisms that control the heavy chain class-switch process. Although the latter process apparently involve a recombination system distinct from that involved in variable region assembly, we find that the two recombination events appear to be controlled by similar mechanisms.
ISSN:0077-8923
1749-6632
DOI:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1988.tb21614.x