Graduate students Emily Dennis and Maria Muroch of the McNamara and Bekiranov labs, respectively, published their work “Loss of TET2 increases B-1 cell number and IgM production while limiting CDR3 diversity” in the Journal Frontiers of Immunology, along with several other co-authors.

The team investigated the role of the protein Ten-Eleven Translocation-2 (TET2) in regulating B-1 cells.  They compared wild type mice to mice with a global knockout of TET2 and analyzed numbers of B-1 cells, production of the antibody subtype IgM and gene expression levels.  They found elevated levels of both B-1a and B-1b cells in the peritoneal cavity, bone marrow and spleen.  They also analyzed the expression of receptor proteins by these cells.  Taken together, their study is the first to demonstrate that global loss of TET2 increases B-1 cell number and IgM production and reduces CDR3 diversity, which could impact many biological processes and disease states that are regulated by IgM. You can read more about their work here.