Analysis of IgH repertoire selection in the absence of surrogate light chain

Naïve follicular B cells develop that are enriched for cells expressing prototypic ANA heavy chains in the absence of surrogate light chain, in a non-autoimmune background with a broad antibody repertoire. This results in the spontaneous formation of T cell-dependent germinal centres that are enriched with B cells expressing prototypic ANA heavy chains. However, peripheral tolerance appears to some extent maintained by selection thresholds on cells entering the memory B and plasma cell pools, as exemplified by the exclusion of cells expressing the self-reactive VH81X from both pools.