Cancer Sciences Division, University of Southampton School of Medicine, General Hospital, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK.
Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2011 Mar;43(3):280-5. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2010.12.005. Epub 2010 Dec 13.
The immune system involves the complex interplay between many different cell types. Over the last decade, T cells, dendritic cells (DC) and macrophages have all been implicated as the key regulator cells of the immunological response, linking innate and adaptive immunity. The forgotten cell in this discourse has been the B-cell. Long considered as simple antibody production units dictated to by T-cells, recent years have begun to shift this assumption. The discovery that numerous B-cell subsets exist, with specific regulatory functions capable of modulating T-cell and chronic inflammatory responses has revealed a hitherto unappreciated role of B-cells. In particular, these ideas have been developed in light of the surprisingly successful responses delivered in autoimmune settings following depletion of B-cells with the anti-CD20 antibody rituximab. Here we summarise the history of the humble B-cell and discuss some of the key recent findings that lead us to propose it as an important regulator of ongoing immune responses and as such, one of the masters of the immunoverse.
免疫系统涉及许多不同细胞类型之间的复杂相互作用。在过去的十年中，T 细胞、树突状细胞 (DC) 和巨噬细胞都被认为是免疫反应的关键调节细胞，连接先天免疫和适应性免疫。在这个讨论中被遗忘的细胞是 B 细胞。长期以来，B 细胞被认为只是 T 细胞指令下简单的抗体产生单位，近年来，这种假设开始发生转变。发现存在许多 B 细胞亚群，具有特定的调节功能，能够调节 T 细胞和慢性炎症反应，这揭示了 B 细胞迄今为止尚未被认识的作用。特别是，这些观点是在针对自身免疫性疾病的治疗中得到发展的，在使用抗 CD20 抗体利妥昔单抗耗尽 B 细胞后，取得了惊人的成功。在这里，我们总结了 B 细胞的历史，并讨论了一些关键的最新发现，这些发现使我们提出 B 细胞作为持续免疫反应的重要调节者之一，是免疫世界的主宰者之一。
