Institute for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
PLoS One. 2010 Oct 20;5(10):e15372. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015372.
It is well documented that thymic epithelial cells participate in the process of negative selection in the thymus. In recent years it was reported that also dendritic cells enter the thymus and contribute to this process, thus allowing for the depletion of thymocytes that are specific to peripherally expressed self-antigens. Here we report that also B cells may take part in the elimination of auto-reactive thymocytes. Using a unique mouse model we show that B cells induce negative selection of self-reactive thymocytes in a process that leads to the deletion of these cells whereas regulatory T cells are spared. These findings have direct implication in autoimmunity, as expression of a myelin antigen by B cells in the thymus renders the mice resistant to autoimmune inflammation of the CNS.
有大量文献记载表明，胸腺上皮细胞参与了胸腺内的阴性选择过程。近年来有报道称，树突状细胞也进入胸腺并参与这一过程，从而能够清除针对外周表达自身抗原的胸腺细胞。在这里，我们报告称 B 细胞也可能参与自身反应性胸腺细胞的清除。我们使用一种独特的小鼠模型表明，B 细胞在导致这些细胞被删除的过程中诱导自身反应性胸腺细胞的阴性选择，而调节性 T 细胞则不受影响。这些发现对自身免疫具有直接影响，因为 B 细胞在胸腺中表达髓鞘抗原可使小鼠对中枢神经系统的自身免疫炎症产生抗性。
