Follicular dendritic cells (FDC) are non-lymphoid, non-phagocytic, accessory immune cells, crucial for antigen presentation and regulation of the reactions in germinal centers. Sarcoma arising from FDC is very rare it has low-to-intermediate malignant potential. Histopathological examination play a critical role diagnosis disease but difficult cases immunohistochemistry great facilitates misint...

A unique feature of the germinal center B cell-derived Hodgkin and Reed/Sternberg cells of classical Hodgkin lymphoma is their lost B cell phenotype and the aberrant expression of factors of other hematopoietic cell types, including ID2 and NOTCH1. As cellular dedifferentiation and upregulation of ID2 and NOTCH1 are typical consequences of a hypoxic response, we wondered whether hypoxia may imp...

Lymphoid tissue immunopathology is a characteristic feature of chronic HIV/SIV infection in AIDS-susceptible species, but is absent in SIV-infected natural hosts. To investigate factors contributing to this difference, we compared germinal center development and SIV RNA distribution in peripheral lymph nodes during primary SIV infection of the natural host sooty mangabey and the non-natural hos...

To identify genes expressed by a specific subset of dendritic cells found in vivo a polymerase chain reaction-based cDNA subtraction technique was applied to the recently described germinal center dendritic cells. A novel member of the disintegrin metalloproteinase family was cloned which comprises a not typical zinc-chelating catalytic site most similar to a bacterial metalloproteinase. Dendri...

Apoptotic cells expose phosphatidylserine and are swiftly engulfed by macrophages. Milk fat globule epidermal growth factor (EGF) factor 8 (MFG-E8) is a protein that binds to apoptotic cells by recognizing phosphatidylserine and that enhances the engulfment of apoptotic cells by macrophages. We report that tingible body macrophages in the germinal centers of the spleen and lymph nodes strongly ...

Gonad morphology at the gross anatomical or histological levels has long been studied by fisheries biologists to identify annual reproductive cycles and length of breeding season, among other goals. Comparative surveys across vertebrate taxa have not been detailed enough, however, to describe fully the differences and similarities among gonads of bony fishes and other vertebrates, and to use go...

Somatic mutation of Ig variable regions occurs prominently in germinal centers, but it has been debated whether the mutation process initiates in germinal centers or is activated before germinal center entry of B cells. We have analyzed for the presence of somatic mutation in Ig gene rearrangements of the nonpolymorphic human VH6 gene in the X-linked HyperIgM syndrome, which is associated with ...

A model of B cell affinity selection is proposed, and an explanation of peripheral tolerance mechanisms through antibody repertoire editing is presented. We show that affinity discrimination between B cells is driven by a competition between obtaining T cell help and removal of B cells from the light zone, either through apoptosis or by a return to the dark zone of germinal centers. We demonstr...