Hikida M, Mori M, Takai T, Tomochika K, Hamatani K, Ohmori H
Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Okayama University, Tsushima-Naka, Okayama 700, Japan.
Science. 1996 Dec 20;274(5295):2092-4. doi: 10.1126/science.274.5295.2092.
Recombination activating genes (RAG-1 and RAG-2), involved in V(D)J rearrangement of immunoglobulin genes, have been thought to be expressed only in immature stages of B-cell development. However, RAG-1 and RAG-2 transcripts were found to be reexpressed in mature mouse B cells after culture with interleukin-4 in association with several different co-stimuli. Reexpression was also detected in draining lymph nodes from immunized mice. RAG-1 and RAG-2 proteins could be detected by immunofluorescence microscopy in the nuclei of B cells cultured in vitro and in the germinal centers of draining lymph nodes. These findings suggest that RAG gene products play a heretofore unsuspected role in mature B cells.
参与免疫球蛋白基因V(D)J重排的重组激活基因（RAG-1和RAG-2），一直被认为仅在B细胞发育的不成熟阶段表达。然而，在与几种不同的共刺激因子一起用白细胞介素-4培养后，发现成熟小鼠B细胞中RAG-1和RAG-2转录本会重新表达。在免疫小鼠的引流淋巴结中也检测到了重新表达。通过免疫荧光显微镜可以在体外培养的B细胞核以及引流淋巴结的生发中心检测到RAG-1和RAG-2蛋白。这些发现表明，RAG基因产物在成熟B细胞中发挥了迄今未被怀疑的作用。
