B Lymphocytes: Development, Tolerance, and Their Role in Autoimmunity—Focus on Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Figure 6

Receptor editing as a major mechanism of central tolerance in B cells. Receptor editing is a major mechanism of central tolerance in B cells. Immature B cells in the bone marrow that encounter multivalent self-antigens revert to the small pre-B stage, continue to rearrange k and, if necessary, l light chain genes, and generate newly B cells that have a novel light chain that is no longer self-reactive. Immature B cells with novel light chains that are no longer part of a self-reactive B cell receptor then migrate to the periphery as T1 B cells where they mature into newly generated IgM and IgD expressing recirculating T2 B cells and, then, into mature recirculating B cells.