National Cancer Institute (NCI) Researchers Detail Research in Apoptosis (Peripheral apoptosis and limited clonal deletion during physiologic murine B lymphocyte development).

A study conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) explores the role of apoptosis in B lymphocyte development. The study found that self-reactive and polyreactive B cells, which have the potential to cause autoimmunity, are silenced through apoptosis, clonal deletion, receptor editing, or anergy. The researchers observed that self-reactivity and polyreactivity are most prevalent in early immature B cells and decrease during maturation in the bone marrow. Apoptosis increases significantly after immature B cells leave the bone marrow, but the majority of apoptotic transitional B cells are not self-reactive or polyreactive. The study suggests that receptor editing, rather than clonal deletion, is the primary mechanism for removing self-reactive B cells in the bone marrow. [Extracted from the article]