B cell development 2025-26

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Across
  1. 1. This costimulatory molecule on activated T cells binds to CD40 on B cells, providing essential signals for B cell activation, proliferation, and class switching.
  2. 5. This B cell-attracting chemokine guides B cells to B cell follicles in secondary lymphoid organs where they can encounter antigen and undergo activation.
  3. 7. - This early developmental stage is characterized by heavy chain gene rearrangement and expression of CD19 and CD10 but lacks surface immunoglobulin.
  4. 9. This TNF family cytokine promotes B cell survival and maturation, particularly during the transition from immature to mature B cell stages in the periphery.
  5. 12. This recombinase enzyme, along with RAG 2, catalyzes the V(D)J recombination process that creates diverse immunoglobulin genes in developing lymphocytes.
  6. 13. This state of functional unresponsiveness occurs when B cells encounter self-antigens without proper costimulatory signals, rendering them unable to mount an immune response.
  7. 14. This primary lymphoid organ serves as the site of B cell development from hematopoietic stem cells through the immature B cell stage.
  8. 17. This mechanism ensures that each B cell expresses only one functional heavy chain and one functional light chain by silencing the second allele once a productive rearrangement occurs.
  9. 18. This process eliminates self-reactive B cells in the bone marrow when they encounter high concentrations of self-antigens during development.
  10. 19. This cytokine is crucial for early B cell development, promoting survival and proliferation of pro-B and pre-B cells in the bone marrow.
  11. 20. These enzymes phosphorylate tyrosine residues on signaling proteins downstream of B cell receptor activation, initiating intracellular signaling cascades.
Down
  1. 2. This process allows activated B cells to change their heavy chain constant region while maintaining antigen specificity, producing different antibody classes like IgG or IgA.
  2. 3. This cytokine supports the survival and proliferation of early hematopoietic progenitors and is essential for B cell development from stem cells.
  3. 4. This heavy chain isotype is the first to be expressed during B cell development and forms part of the pre-B cell receptor and mature IgM antibodies.
  4. 6. This checkpoint ensures that developing B cells have successfully assembled functional immunoglobulin receptors before they can progress to the next developmental stage.
  5. 8. This Th2 cytokine promotes B cell activation, proliferation, and isotype switching to IgE, playing a key role in allergic responses.
  6. 10. This salvage mechanism allows immature B cells to escape deletion by continuing light chain gene rearrangement to reduce self-reactivity.
  7. 11. This temporary light chain substitute (composed of VpreB and λ5) pairs with heavy chains during early B cell development before actual light chains are rearranged.
  8. 15. - This developmental stage expresses surface IgM for the first time and undergoes tolerance testing in the bone marrow before migrating to peripheral lymphoid organs.
  9. 16. These specialized stromal cells present antigen to B cells in germinal centers and provide survival signals necessary for affinity maturation and memory cell formation.