Differential organization of tonic and chronic B cell antigen receptors in the plasma membrane.

ABSTRACT: Stimulation of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) triggers signaling pathways that promote the differentiation of B cells into plasma cells. Despite the pivotal function of BCR in B cell activation, the organization of the BCR on the surface of resting and antigen-activated B cells remains unclear. Here we show, using STED super-resolution microscopy, that IgM-containing BCRs exist predominantly as monomers and dimers in the plasma membrane of resting B cells, but form higher oligomeric clusters upon stimulation. By contrast, a chronic lymphocytic leukemia-derived BCR forms dimers and oligomers in the absence of a stimulus, but a single amino acid exchange reverts its organization to monomers in unstimulated B cells. Our super-resolution microscopy approach for quantitatively analyzing cell surface proteins may thus help reveal the nanoscale organization of immunoreceptors in various cell types.

SUBMITTER: Gomes de Castro MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6379438 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature