Early Restriction of the Human Antibody Repertoire

• DOI: 10.1126/science.3118465
• Publication Date: 2006-10-05T20:28:58Z
• Authors: Harry W. Schroeder; Jan L. Hillson; Roger M. Perlmutter
• Keywords: Antibody Repertoire; Immunocompetence; Lineage (genetic); Gene rearrangement

Diversification of the antibody repertoire in mammals results from a series apparently random somatically propagated gene rearrangement and mutational events. Nevertheless, it is well known that adult specificities acquired developmentally programmed fashion. As previously shown, segments encoding heavy-chain variable regions (V H ) mouse antibodies also ordered: number V rearranged B lymphocytes fetal mice small but increases progressively after birth. In this report, human B-lineage cells were shown to rearrange highly restricted set segments. sample transcripts 130-day fetus most frequently expressed element proved be closely related murine cells. These observations are important understanding development immunocompetence.