CAN RECEPTOR EDITING PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN NORMAL B-CELL DEVELOPMENT

B-cells bearing in-frame light chain rearrangements often continue to rearrangement light chain genes, in apparent contradiction to the rule s of allelic exclusion. The potential role of B-cell receptor self-rea ctivity in this process is discussed in the context of the possible ef ficiency of rescue of the autoreactive cells and the observed high fre quency of peripheral B-cells that rearrange only a single light chain locus. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited