Plasma cells are central to an effective immune response, being the sole producers of the antibodies, yet they can caqse severe disease in autoimmunity and multiple myeloma. Therefore their differentiation and survival must be tightly regulated. In this work I investigated some of the mechanisms regulating plasma cell differentiation and life span. The differentiation of a long lived B cell to a short lived plasma cell entails a profound structural and functional metamorphosis finalized to the massive production of immunoglobulins (Ig). Exuberant Ig synthesis causes several types of stress in differentiating plasma cells. My work deals with the characterization of. the C/EBP transcription factor CHOP in plasma cell differentiation. Comparing differentiation of B cells harvested from chop'!' mice to wt cells I found a mild phenotype, consisting in an increased accumulation of intracellular IgM aggregates and a decreased secretion of this antibody class, in vitro and in vivo. These findings' reveal a novel role for CHOP in ensuring optimal functionality of the secretory pathway in the course of plasma cell differentiation. CHOP is involved in the differentiation of various cell types, where it interacts with other members of the C/EBP family favoring or impeding differentiation and it is an important factor in the ER stress response named unfolded protein response (UPR), in which it plays a pro-apoptotic role in most of the systems tested. I extended my investigation on the functions of CHOP in B cells by examining the resistance to ER stress-induced apoptosis in wt and in chop-I' cells. Surprisingly, I observed that in B cells CHOP expression in the UPR plays an anti-apoptotic function. Altogether my data suggest a cell-type specific role for CHOP in B cells and add information on the multi-faceted role of this transcription factor. Most plasma cells exhibit a short life span. The mechanisms at the basis of plasma cell apoptosis are still obscure. I propose that multiple forms of stress, linked to the massive antibody production, contribute to plasma cell death.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:491475 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Masciarelli, Silvia |
| Publisher | Open University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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