Regulation of Anti-DNA B Cells in Recombination-activating Gene–deficient Mice |
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| Authors: | Hui Xu Hui Li Elisabeth Suri-Payer Richard R. Hardy Martin Weigert |
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| Affiliation: | From the *Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544; and the ‡Fox Chase Cancer Center, Institute for Cancer Research, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19111 |
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| Abstract: | Anti-DNA antibodies are regulated in normal individuals but are found in high concentration in the serum of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and the MRL lpr/lpr mouse model of SLE. We previously studied the regulation of anti–double-stranded (ds)DNA and anti–single-stranded (ss)DNA B cells in a nonautoimmune background by generating mice carrying immunoglobulin transgenes coding for anti-DNAs derived from MRL lpr/lpr. Anti-dsDNA B cells undergo receptor editing, but anti-ssDNA B cells seem to be functionally silenced. Here we have investigated how anti-DNA B cells are regulated in recombination- activating gene (RAG)-2−/− mice. In this setting, anti-dsDNA B cells are eliminated by apoptosis in the bone marrow and anti-ssDNA B cells are partially activated. |
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| Keywords: | anti-DNA antibody B cell deletion B cell anergy recombination-activating gene deficiency apoptosis |
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