Dear colleagues,
I am writing a paper on non-specific antibody binding to self-antigens. Do you know whether maturing B-cells are exposed to all self-antigen peptides possible (trillions or quadrillions of peptides) or only to a fraction of peptides that are most common on the cell surface/inside cells that are "exposed" for binding of the antibody? For example, would B-cells be exposed to histone peptides that are exposed for antibody binding in natural setting (non-cryptic epitopes), whereas cryptic epitope peptides of the same histone would not be shown to B-cells?
Thanks,
Kind regards,
Maria
B cells don't get exposed to all self-antigens in the bone marrow while being developed. T cells get exposure to more self antigens due the expression of AIRE gene in the thymus. B cells rely on T cells to safe guard against self-antigens.
Anding Shen 's answer is a bit too simplistic. New B cells are generated constantly and pass through a 'window' of tolerance induction as they are acquiring surface antibody. If they encounter an antigen they bind with sufficient affinity to activate the B cell, the B cell will endocytose it, process it and present antigenic peptides on its surface, looking for T cells to recognize the antigen. If there is recognition by T cells, the B cells is driven differentiate and produce antibody. If no help is provide by T cells, the activated nascent B cell dies.
Research has shown that many autoantigens are not tolerized out - the B cell never encounters them during maturation. Once mature the primary B cells cannot be tolerized. Secondary B cells undergo a second tolerance window after primary activation and can be tolerized if the activated B cell does not receive help from T cells.
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