University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Spring 2010 Characterization of B Cell Development and Activation in the Absence of Akt or Presenilin Marco Calamito University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons Recommended Citation Calamito, Marco, "Characterization of B Cell Development and Activation in the Absence of Akt or Presenilin" (2010). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 163. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/163 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/163 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Characterization of B Cell Development and Activation in the Absence of Akt or Presenilin Abstract The biochemical pathways critical to B cell development remain poorly defined. Here I characterize a critical role for two separate families of proteins, Akt and Presenilin in the development and activation of B cells. The absence of Akt1 and Akt2 leads to a block in marginal zone (MZ) and B1B cell development, as well as decreased cellularity of splenic follicular B cells. In addition, I find the combined loss of Akt1 and Akt2 causes altered B cell receptor repertoire and poor competitive ability when matched against wild-type B cells. Similar to deficiencies in the Akt pathway the combined loss of Presenilin1 and Presenilin2 results in defective MZ, B1B cell development, and altered BCR repertoire selection. Furthermore, I find that these defects are independent of the Notch pathway and that Presenilins are required for optimal responses to cross-linking of the BCR.