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The development and function of thymic B cells

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Abstract

Thymic B cells are a unique population of B lymphocytes that reside at the cortico-medullary junction of the thymus, an organ that is specialized for the development and selection of T cells. These B cells are distinct from peripheral B cells both in terms of their origin and phenotype. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that they develop within the thymus from B lineage-committed progenitors and are not recirculating peripheral B cells. Furthermore, thymic B cells have a highly activated phenotype. Because of their location in the thymic medulla, they have been thought to play a role in T cell negative selection. Thymic B cells are capable of inducing negative selection in a number of model antigen systems, including viral super antigen, peptides from immunoglobulin, and cognate self antigen presented by B cell receptor-mediated uptake. These findings establish thymic B cells as a novel and important population to study; however, much work remains to be done to understand how all of these unique aspects of thymic B cell biology inform their function.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Committee on Immunology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    Jason Perera & Haochu Huang

  2. Department of Medicine, Section of Rheumatology, Knapp Center for Lupus and Immunology Research, University of Chicago, 924 E. 57th Street, R412, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Jason Perera & Haochu Huang

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Correspondence to Haochu Huang.

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Perera, J., Huang, H. The development and function of thymic B cells. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 72, 2657–2663 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-015-1895-1

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