Structural and immunogenomic insights for B cell receptor activation

Publication date: Available online 9 January 2020Source: Journal of Genetics and GenomicsAuthor(s): Yangyang Feng, Yu Wang, Shaocun Zhang, Kabeer Haneef, Wanli LiuAbstractB cells express B-cell receptors (BCRs) which recognize antigen to trigger signaling cascades for B cell activation and subsequent antibody production. BCR activation has a crucial influence on B cell fate. How BCR is activated upon encountering antigen remains to be solved, although tremendous progresses have been achieved in the past a few years. Here, we summarized the models that have been proposed to explain BCR activation, including the cross-linking model, the conformation-induced oligomerization model, the dissociation activation model and conformational change model. Especially, we elucidated the partially resolved structures of antibodies and/or BCRs by far and discussed how these current structural and further immunogenomic messages and more importantly the future studies may shed light on the explanation of BCR activation and the relevant diseases in the case of dysregulation.

Source: Journal of Genetics and Genomics - January 11, 2020 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research