2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Analysis on regulatory mechanism of B cell selection by novel signaling molecule in germinal center

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23590568
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Immunology
Research Institution	Kyoto University
Principal Investigator	HIKIDA Masaki 京都大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (60228715)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	胚中心 / Ｂ細胞 / 分化 / シグナル
Research Abstract	We have found that a subset of germinal center B cells is expressing CD3e, which have been widely known as a T cell-specific signaling molecule. The germinal center B cells we have observed were proliferating cells and we have also observed that CD3e is involved in apoptosis of these B cells. These results suggest that still unknown molecules are playing essential roles in positive and/or negative selection in the germinal center B cells. Also, we have found that this cell number of this population was increased in a autoimmune-prone model mice strain compared to the wild type mice. This may suggest the involvement of this population in autoimmune diseases.