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Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase and SLP-65 Regulate Pre-B Cell Differentiation and the Induction of Ig Light Chain Gene Rearrangement¹

Rogier Kersseboom^*, Van B. T. Ta^*, A. J. Esther Zijlstra^*, Sabine Middendorp^*, Hassan Jumaa, Pieter Fokko van Loo^* and Rudolf W. Hendriks^2,*

^* Department of Immunology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and Institute for Biology III, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, and Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology, Freiburg, Germany

Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (Btk) and the adapter protein SLP-65 (Src homology 2 domain-containing leukocyte-specific phosphoprotein of 65 kDa) transmit precursor BCR (pre-BCR) signals that are essential for efficient developmental progression of large cycling into small resting pre-B cells. We show that Btk- and SLP-65-deficient pre-B cells have a specific defect in Ig L chain germline transcription. In Btk/SLP-65 double-deficient pre-B cells, both and germline transcripts are severely reduced. Although these observations point to an important role for Btk and SLP-65 in the initiation of L chain gene rearrangement, the possibility remained that these signaling molecules are only required for termination of pre-B cell proliferation or for pre-B cell survival, whereby differentiation and L chain rearrangement is subsequently initiated in a Btk/SLP-65-independent fashion. Because transgenic expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 did not rescue the developmental arrest of Btk/SLP-65 double-deficient pre-B cells, we conclude that defective L chain opening in Btk/SLP-65-deficient small resting pre-B cells is not due to their reduced survival. Next, we analyzed transgenic mice expressing the constitutively active Btk mutant E41K. The expression of E41K-Btk in Ig H chain-negative pro-B cells induced 1) surface marker changes that signify cellular differentiation, including down-regulation of surrogate L chain and up-regulation of CD2, CD25, and MHC class II; and 2) premature rearrangement and expression of and light chains. These findings demonstrate that Btk and SLP-65 transmit signals that induce cellular maturation and Ig L chain rearrangement independently of their role in termination of pre-B cell expansion.

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