High rate of antibody secretion is not integral to plasma cell differentiation as revealed by XBP-1 deficiency

Abstract

During B cell terminal differentiation, a complex set of transcription factors interact to drive the phenotypic and functional changes leading to the development of Ab-secreting cells (ASCs). The transcription factor X-box binding protein 1 (XBP-1) is an essential part of one of the branches of the unfolded protein response (UPR). The UPR is induced when a cell has to handle large amounts of proteins, as is the case in ASCs. Although XBP-1 was initially also ascribed an indispensable function in plasma cell development, later studies of B cell-specific deletion reported a much milder consequence of XBP-1 deficiency. Our interest was to determine whether XBP-1 was integral for the differentia..