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Differential organization of tonic and chronic B cell antigen receptors in the plasma membrane
ISSN
2041-1723
Date Issued
2019
Author(s)
Wildhagen, Hanna
Sograte-Idrissi, Shama
Hitzing, Christoffer
Binder, Mascha
Trepel, Martin
Engels, Niklas
DOI
10.1038/s41467-019-08677-1
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.
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s41467-019-08677-1.pdf
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