REPORT

New targets I—signal transduction

B cell signalling as therapeutic target

R H Carter

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
R H Carter
University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA; rcarter@uab.edu

Abbreviations: BLyS, B lymphocyte stimulator; Btk, Bruton’s tyrosine kinase; FDC, follicular dendritic cell; MAPK, mitogen activated protein kinase; (NF)AT, (nuclear factor) of activated T cells; PALS, periarteriolar lymphoid sheath; PLC, phospholipase C; TLR, toll-like receptor

Keywords: B cell activation; signalling pathways; therapeutic targets; autoimmunity

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Biological therapy holds the promise of specificity of intervention. Recent progress in development of such therapies has proved that rational targeting can lead to clinical benefit. B cells pose an attractive target in autoimmunity. Approaches currently being tested lead to depletion of B cells or at least circulating B cells.^1–3 Such therapies appear remarkably benign, but the effects of repeated depletion, which might be required to fight autoimmune disease, have yet to be defined. Fundamental studies have uncovered pathways of B cell activation. This work opens the possibility of targeting activated B cells. This review asks how we might approach therapeutic manipulation of activated B cells. The underlying assumption is that it is the activated B cells that are important in pathophysiology of autoimmune disease. The activation pathways lead to the differentiation of self-reactive B cells to plasmablasts that produce the autoantibodies, which may be directly . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Carter, R. H. (2006). B Cells in Health and Disease. Mayo Clin Proc. 81: 377-384 [Abstract] [Full Text]