Bach2: Plasma-cell differentiation takes a break

Abstract

Plasma cells are antibody-producing cells and represent the developmental end point of the B-cell lineage. Over the last few years, major progress has been made in understanding the transcriptional regulation of B-cell to plasmacell transition. Two transcription factors, Pax5 and Blimp1, are responsible for the development and maintenance of B-cell and plasma-cell identity, respectively. Both factors regulate mutually exclusive transcriptional programs and are part of a gene-regulatory network that ensures each other's repression. Consequently, it became apparent that pathways must exist that, after B-cell activation, initiate differentiation while at the same time allow clonal expansion, cl..