HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a Letter to Editor Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tachibana, H. Articles by Shirahata, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tachibana, H. Articles by Shirahata, S. Social Bookmarking                      What's this?

Volume 271, Number 29, Issue of July 19, 1996 pp. 17404-17410
©1996 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

---

Inducing the Loss of Immunoglobulin  Light Chain Production and the Rearrangement of a Previously Excluded Allele in Human Plasma B Cell Lines with Concanavalin A

(Received for publication, December 29, 1995, and in revised form, April 3, 1996)

From the Graduate School of Genetic Resources Technology, Kyushu University, 6-10-1, Hakozaki, Fukuoka, Japan

We investigated the expression of differential  light chains in human B cell lines secreting immunoglobulin (Ig). When these cell lines were cultured with concanavalin A for a long period of time, a subpopulation of some but not all of these cell lines was induced to express new  light chains replacing the original  chain (light chain shifting). Production of the new  chain, which replaces the original  chain, results from a VJ rearrangement at a previously excluded allele and a dramatic reduction of the original  chain transcript, although no difference was found in the level of heavy chain transcript. Recombination activating genes RAG-1 and RAG-2, which are normally expressed during specific early stages of lymphocyte development, were expressed in not only the light chain shifting-inducible lines but also in the non-inducible cells. Treatment of these Ig secreting cell lines with dibutyryl cAMP, which is known to enhance expression of the RAG genes, could not induce the creation of new  light chain-producing cells from the inducible lines, suggesting that the expression of the two RAG genes is not sufficient for inducing new  light chain production. Concanavalin A induced a gradual but significant production lost of the original  chain in a subpopulation of the light chain shifting-inducible cells but not in the non-inducible cells. Association of new  light chain production with loss of original  chain raises the possibility that, when the RAG genes are expressed, concanavalin A may act on a novel intracellular mechanism controlling  light chain allelic exclusion in these plasma cell lines.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Tachibana, H. Haruta, K. Ueda, T. Chiwata, and K. Yamada Induction of Light Chain Replacement in Human Plasma Cells by Caffeine Is Independent from Both the Upregulation of RAG Protein Expression and Germ Line Transcription J. Biol. Chem., February 25, 2000; 275(8): 5927 - 5933. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Tachibana, H. Haruta, and K. Yamada Light Chain Shifting: Identification of a Human Plasma Cell Line Actively Undergoing Light Chain Replacement Blood, January 1, 1999; 93(1): 198 - 207. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]