BACKGROUND Clonal expansion of B lymphocytes coupled with somatic mutation and antigen selection allow the mammalian humoral immune system to generate highly specific immunoglobulins (IG) or antibodies against invading bacteria, viruses and toxins. The availability of high-throughput DNA sequencing methods is providing new avenues for studying this clonal expansion and identifying the factors g...

Hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy is a rare disorder characterized by the sudden onset of recurrent episodes of painful brachial plexus neuropathies, followed by atrophy within a few weeks. The authors present the case of a 5-year-old boy who developed hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy in the right upper limb after a gastroenteritis illness. He made a full and rapid recovery with the use of intrave...

Background: In 10-30% of the cases with sarcoidosis, skin lesions appear solely without any systemic signs or symptoms. BTNL2 gene, which is a member of the immunoglobulin gene super family and is associated with CD86 and CD80 co-stimulatory receptors, is identified to play an important role in the establishment of sarcoidosis. We aimed to evaluate the role of this gene in patients with skin sa...

A complete set of a rearranged human gamma 1-heavy chain gene, HIG1, was cloned from human plasma cell leukemia line, ARH-77, and transferred into mouse cells. It was strongly expressed in mouse myeloma cells but not in mouse L cells, indicating that immunoglobulin gene expression is not species-specific but cell-specific. However, a remarkable production of human gamma 1 chain was induced in m...

The autosomal recessive scid mutation results in defective immunoglobulin and T cell receptor gene rearrangement. The scid mutation occurred in the allotype congenic C.B-17 line, and up to 25% of C.B-17 scid mice spontaneously produce both T cells and immunoglobulin, a phenotype known as "leaky." Moreover, introduction of neonatal T cells into C.B-17 scid mice leads to immunoglobulin production...

The killing activity of natural killer cells is largely regulated by the binding of class I human leukocyte antigen cognate ligands to killer cell immunoglobulin - like receptor proteins. The killer cell immunoglobulin - like receptor gene - complex contains genes that activate and others that inhibit the killing state of natural killer cells depending on the binding of specific human leukocyte...