Methylation of an immediate-early inducible gene as a mechanism for B cell tolerance induction

Stage-specific gene regulation is important in determining cell function during development. Immature B cells expressing membrane-bound immunoglobulin M (mIgM) are sensitive to antigen-induced tolerance, whereas mature B cells are activated by antigen. Previous studies have established an association between Egr-1 gene induction and antigen receptor (mIgM)-mediated activation of mature B cells. Here it is shown that the immature B cell line WEHI-231 and tolerance-sensitive bone marrow-derived B cells do not express Egr-1. It is further shown that lack of inducible expression in these cells is due to specific methylation of the Egr-1 gene. Thus, covalent inactivation of an activation-associated gene may explain tolerance sensitivity at specific stages of B cell development.     

Effect of light chain V region duplication on IgG oligomerization and in vivo efficacy

A human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) antibody oligomer was isolated from a transfected myeloma cell line that produced a monoclonal antibody to group B streptococci. Compared to the IgG1 monomer, the oligomer was significantly more effective at protecting neonatal rats from infection in vivo. The oligomer was also shown to cross the placenta and to be stable in neonatal rats. Immunochemical analysis and complementary DNA sequencing showed that the transfected cell line produced two distinct kappa light chains: a normal light chain (Ln) with a molecular mass of 25 kilodaltons and a 37-kilodalton species (L37), the domain composition of which was variable-variable-constant (V-V-C). Cotransfection of vectors encoding the heavy chain and L37 resulted in production of oligomeric IgG.     

Developmentally controlled expression of immunoglobulin VH genes

Although antibody diversity arises mainly from apparently random combinatorial and somatic mutational mechanisms acting upon a limited number of germline antibody genes, the antibody repertoire develops in an ordered fashion during mammalian ontogeny. A series of early pre-B and B-lymphocyte cell lines were examined to determine whether an ordered rearrangement of gene families of the variable region of immunoglobulin heavy chains (VH) may be the basis for the programmed development of the antibody response. The results indicated that the VH repertoire of fetal B-lineage cells is largely restricted to the VH 7183 gene family and that subsequent recruitment of additional VH gene families occurs during neonatal development. These results have important implications in understanding the ontogeny of immune function.     

Protein synthesis: its control in erythropoiesis

Erythropoiesis in the fetal mouse provides a model to study several important aspects of the regulation of cell differentiation and differentiated protein synthesis. Changes in the patterns of hemoglobins formed during fetal and postfetal development are shown to be associated with the substitution of the liver erythroid cell line. In the course of differentiation of yolk sac erythroid cells there are at least two classes of proteins distinguishable with respect to dependence on continued RNA formatoin. The bulk of nuclear proteins, "nondifferentiated" proteins, appear to be dependent on relatively short-lived messenger RNA while synthesis of differentiated proteins, the hemoglobins, proceeds on relatively stable molecules of messenger RNA. Hemoglobin formation occurs in those cells which are actively synthesizing DNA and dividing. On the average, two to three cell divisions may occur after the formation and stabilization of the messenger RNA for globin. Yolk sac erythropoiesis, at least from day 10 of gestation, is unresponsive to erythropoietin. By comparison, in fetal liver erythropoiesis, the hormone, erythropoietin, acts selectively on the most immature erythroid cell precursor to induce differentiation, cell replication, and hemoglobin formation. The erythropoietin responsive cell in the liver is apparently differentiated from the progenitor, pluripotential stem cell and committed to erythroblast formation and hemoglobin synthesis on exposure to the hormone. The initial effects of erythropoietin on macromolecular synthesis are to stimulate RNA synthesis, which temporally is followed by cell replication and the increase in hemoglobin formation. During liver erythropoiesis, there appears to be a transition from hemoglobin synthesis dependent on RNA formation to hemoglobin synthesis directed by relatively stable messenger RNA.     

Stable antibody-producing murine hybridomas

A method is described for obtaining antibody-producing hybridomas that are preferentially retained in cultures of fused mouse spleen and myeloma cells. Hybridomas are produced by fusing mouse myeloma cells that are deficient in adenosine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) with mouse spleen cells containing Robertsonian 8.12 translocation chromosomes. The cell fusion mixtures are exposed to a culture medium that can be utilized only by APRT-positive cells, which results in the elimination of both unfused APRT-deficient myeloma cells and non-antibody-producing APRT-deficient hybridomas that arise by segregation of the 8.12 translocation chromosomes containing the APRT genes and the active heavy chain immunoglobulin gene.     

Depletion of conventional mature B cells and compromised specific antibody response in bovine immunoglobulin μ heavy-chain transgenic mice

In this study, we introduced the bovine immunoglobulin μ heavy-chain gene (the orphaned gene on BTA11) into mouse germline cells. Bovine IgM was highly expressed in selected transgenic lines, and it largely inhibited rearrangements of the endogenous immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) genes in these lines. The forced expression of bovine IgM resulted in reduced numbers of pro- and pre-B cells but increased the number of immature B cells in the transgenic mice. Bovine IgM-expressing B cells can migrate from the bone marrow to the spleen, but most of the cells are arrested at the T1 transitional B cell stage, leading to a significantly lower number of T2 transitional and mature B cells in the spleen. Although the serum concentrations of endogenous IgM and IgG in the transgenic mice were significantly decreased, the IgA levels were slightly increased compared to the WT mice. The bovine IgM level in the serum was only one-tenth to one-fifth of that of endogenous mouse IgM, suggesting that most of the serum immunoglobulin were contributed by endogenous IgH gene-expressing B cells. These transgenic mice also exhibited a lower frequency of unique complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) sequences in their VH repertoire and Vκ repertoire but exhibited an increased frequency of unique CDR3 in their Vλ repertoire. Compared to the WT mice, the transgenic mice had a significantly higher percentage of mouse IgM-expressing B cells that expressed λ chains. Finally, we showed that the transgenic mice were deficient in a specific antibody response to antigen stimulation.     

Gene selection in hemoglobin and in antibody-synthesizing cells

Close linkage of mutually exclusive genes occurs in the non-alpha chain hemoglobin genes and in the immunoglobulin genes of man and other mammals. The expression of one gene in the cluster precludes the expression of any other linked gene. A simple, testable theory of gene selection called "looping-out excision"which was designed only to explain this mutual exclusivity in the hemoglobin system is described. The theory is closely concordant with a wide range of previously unexplained findings concerning hematopoiesis- including the developmental changes of hemoglobins, the increases in immature or fetal forms of hemoglobin that accompany anemia, and with the distribution of adult and fetal hemoglobins among erythrocytes during normal embryogenesis and in various pathological conditions. One corollary of this theory is that erythroid tissue in the normal adult bone marrow is constantly recapitulating the developmental stages of its embryogenesis. Another corollary is that the selection from among the linked globin genes occurs independently on the two chromosomes of the diploid organism. Both of these corollaries are supported by the available data. The same theory of gene selection is also remarkably consistent with known data for immunoglobulin synthesis; it could explain not only the mutually exclusive activation of linked variable genes but also the splicing which occurs between genetically linked variable and constant region genes for the immunoglobulin polypeptide chains. The agreement between these two different tissues is considered to be strong evidence that the proposed mechanism is correct at least in broad outline. Evidence from the genetics of maize and of drosophila also supports this theory of somatic tissue variegation. On the basis of these comparisons, I suggest that looping-out excision probably occurs also in other tissues and may be one means of gene selection and activation in differentiating cells.     

金黄色葡萄球菌TraP蛋白单克隆抗体制备

研究通过骨髓瘤细胞SP2／O与经金黄色葡萄球菌（S．aureus）Trap蛋白免疫的小鼠脾细胞融合,并进一步筛选种单克隆化,获得了11株稳定分泌抗TraP蛋白的单克隆抗体（McAb）杂交瘤细胞株,其中8株McAb（2A1、3A6、381、184、2C5、4C7、5C3和2D8）亚类为IgGl,3株McAb（2A7、3A1和1c4）亚类为IgM,轻链均为K链。8株IgGl型McAb的小鼠腹水的抗体效价均达到1：128000,交叉实验结果显示这8株McAb不与S．aureus的ClfA、ClfB、Cna、FnbPA和IsdB蛋白以及链球菌的GapC蛋白反应,具有良好的特异性,Western—blotting结果显示这8株McAb识别的都是TraP的线性表位。     

Location of gene for beta subunit of human T-cell receptor at band 7q35, a region prone to rearrangements in T cells

The T-cell receptor is formed by two chains, alpha and beta, for which specific clones were recently obtained. In this report the gene for the beta chain of the human T-cell receptor was located on the long arm of chromosome 7, band q35, by means of in situ hybridization. This chromosome region in T cells is unusually prone to develop breaks in vivo, perhaps reflecting instability generated by somatic rearrangement of T-cell receptor genes during normal differentiation in this cell lineage.     

Suppressor T cell action inhibits the expression of an excluded immunoglobulin gene

Cells of the murine plasmacytoid line MOPC-315 synthesize two distinct immunoglobulin light chains: a normal lambda II protein, which is incorporated into secretory and surface-bound immunoglobulin, and a truncated, nonfunctional lambda I protein found only in the cytoplasm. Idiotype-specific suppressor T lymphocytes selectively inhibit the expression of both lambda II- and lambda I-specific messenger RNA by MOPC-315 cells. This finding demonstrates that phenotypically excluded light chain genes can be subject to immunoregulatory control and suggests that the expression of divergent lambda isotypes may be coordinately regulated in immunoglobulin-secreting cells.     

The need for central and peripheral tolerance in the B cell repertoire

The immune system normally avoids producing antibodies that react with autologous ("self") antigens by censoring self-reactive T and B cells. Unlike the T cell repertoire, antibody diversity is generated within the B cell repertoire in two phases; the first occurs by gene rearrangement in primary lymphoid organs, and the second phase involves antigen-driven hypermutation in peripheral lymphoid organs. The possibility that distinct cellular mechanisms may impose self tolerance at these two different phases of B cell diversification may explain recent findings in transgenic mouse models, in which self-reactive B cells appear to be silenced both by functional inactivation and by physical elimination.     

Isotypic exclusion of gamma delta T cell receptors in transgenic mice bearing a rearranged beta-chain gene

The rearrangement of T cell antigen receptor beta- and gamma-chain gene segments was studied in transgenic mice that bear a functional beta-chain gene. Virtually all CD3-positive T cells derived from transgenic mice express beta chains containing the transgene-encoded V beta 8.2 variable region on their surfaces and do not express endogenous beta-chain variable regions. Expression of endogenous V beta genes is inhibited at the level of somatic recombination during thymic ontogeny. Furthermore, rearrangements of the TCR gamma-chain genes are also markedly inhibited in these transgenic animals. Hence expression of the TCR beta transgene has led to allelic exclusion of alpha beta receptors and isotypic exclusion of gamma delta T cell receptors.     

鸡Igλ轻链基因克隆、序列分析及其在COS7细胞膜上的定位表达

为了研究鸡B细胞膜免疫球蛋白(mIg)的功能,深入了解鸡免疫系统抗体基因的特点,从鸡法氏囊B细胞cDNA中扩增出Igλ轻链基因,对其核苷酸序列和氨基酸序列进行了分析和比较。该基因cDNA全长873bp,编码含226个氨基酸的Igλ轻链,N-端21个氨基酸构成轻链信号肽,随后是2个Ig样结构域。运用融合PCR的方法将该基因与牛IgG Fc受体γRⅡ跨膜区序列嵌合形成重组跨膜分子,构建真核表达载体pcDNA-λR2T,转染COS7细胞,荧光抗体染色及流式细胞术检测到重组鸡Igλ轻链在细胞膜上的表达。所扩增的鸡Igλ轻链基因以及构建表达于细胞膜上的重组鸡Igλ轻链跨膜分子,为研究鸡免疫系统中的抗体轻链基因,探索Igλ轻链和B细胞膜免疫球蛋白的功能奠定技术基础。     

Activation-driven programmed cell death and T cell receptor zeta eta expression

Activation of spontaneously dividing T cell hybridomas induces interleukin-2 (IL-2) production, a cell cycle block, and programmed cell death. T cell hybridomas that express the T cell antigen receptor (TCR) zeta homodimer (zeta 2), but not the TCR zeta eta heterodimer, were studied. The zeta eta- cells produced little or no inositol phosphates (IP) when stimulated with antigen. In most cases the hydrolysis of phosphoinositides was also impaired after stimulation with antibody to CD3, although one zeta eta- cell produced normal concentrations of IP. The zeta eta- cells slowed their growth and secreted IL-2 in response to both stimuli. However, the zeta eta- cells did not die after activation with antigen. Since activated thymocytes also undergo programmed cell death, these results may have important implications for the role of the zeta eta.TCR in negative selection.     

Development of the expressed immunoglobulin μ chain repertoire during maturation of mice B cells

In the bone marrow and spleen, the developing B cell populations undergo both negative and positive selections to shape their B cell receptor repertoire. To gain insight into the shift of the immunoglobulin heavy (IgH) chain repertoire during B cell development, we undertook large scale Ig μ chain repertoire analysis of pre-B, immature B and spleen B cell populations. We found that the majority of V_H gene segments, V_H families, J_H and D gene segments, were observed to have significantly different usage frequencies when three B cell populations were compared, but the usage profile of the V_H, D, and J_H genes between different B cell populations showed high correlations. In both productive and nonproductive rearrangements, the length of CDRH3 shortened significantly on average when B cells entered the periphery. However, the CDRH3 length distribution of nonproductive rearrangements did not follow a Gaussian distribution, but decreased successively in the order 3n-2, 3n-1 and 3n, suggesting a direct correlation between mRNA stability and CDRH3 length patterns of nonproductive rearrangements. Further analysis of the individual components comprising CDRH3 of productive rearrangements indicated that the decrease in CDRH3 length was largely due to the reduction of N addition at the 5′ and 3′ junctions. Moreover, with development, the amino acid content of CDRH3 progressed toward fewer positively charged and nonpolar residues but more polar residues. All these data indicated that the expressed Ig μ chain repertoire, especially the repertoire of CDRH3, was fine-tuned when B cells passed through several checkpoints of selection during the process of maturation.