Signal Transduction and the Coordination of B Lymphocyte Development and Function I

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XV

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2. Signal Transduction via the B-cell Antigen Receptor: The Role of Protein Tyrosine Kinases and Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases

   • Louis B. Justement

   Pages 1-51

3. The B-Cell Antigen Receptor: Formation of Signaling Complexes and the Function of Adaptor Proteins

   • J. Wienands

   Pages 53-76

4. Intermediary Signaling Effectors Coupling the B-Cell Receptor to the Nucleus

   • M. R. Gold

   Pages 77-134

5. Involvement of the Lymphocyte Cytoskeleton in Antigen-Receptor Signaling

   • L. A. G. da Cruz, S. Penfold, J. Zhang, A.-K. Somani, F. Shi, M. K. H. McGavin et al.

   Pages 135-167

6. Pax-5/BSAP: Regulator of Specific Gene Expression and Differentiation in B Lymphocytes

   • J. Hagman, W. Wheat, D. Fitzsimmons, W. Hodsdon, J. Negri, F. Dizon

   Pages 169-194

7. Receptor Modulators of B-Cell Receptor Signalling — CD19/CD22

   • K. G. C. Smith, D. T. Fearon

   Pages 195-212

8. Positive and Negative Signaling in B Lymphocytes

   • K. M. Coggeshall

   Pages 213-260

9. Back Matter

   Pages 261-267

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Proper development and differentiation of B lymphocytes is es­ sential to ensure that an organism has the ability to mount an effective humoral immune response against foreign antigens. The immune system must maintain a balance between the deletion of harmful self-reactive B cells and the generation of a diverse rep­ ertoire of B cells that has the ability to recognize an almost un­ limited array of foreign antigens. The need to delete self-reactive cells is tempered by the need to avoid the generation of large functional holes in the repertoire of foreign antigen-specific B cells that patrol the periphery. To accomplish this, the immune system must reach a compromise by eliminating only the most dangerous autoreactive clones, while allowing less harmful au­ toreactive B cells to exist in the periphery where they may com­ plement the organism's ability to mount a rapid response against invading micro-organisms. Those autoreactive cells that do enter the peripheral pool are subject to a number of conditional re­ straints that effectively attenuate their ability to respond to self­ antigens. Deleterious alterations in the homeostasis between tolerance induction and recruitment of B cells into the functional repertoire may lead to increased susceptibility to autoimmune disease or infection, respectively. Therefore, delineation of the molecular processes that maintain immunological homeostasis in the B cell compartment is critical.

• Activation
• Antigen
• cell
• cell biology
• cell membrane
• cytoskeleton
• gene
• gene expression
• lymphocytes
• membrane
• protein
• proteins
• regulation
• signal transduction
• transcription

• Division of Developmental & Clinical Immunology Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, USA

  Louis B. Justement

• Department of Medicine, University of Toronto Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada

  Katherine A. Siminovitch

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