Membrane immunoglobulin expressed by retroviral vector gene transfer mimics partial function of the B-cell receptor in vivo.

Activation of B-cells is initiated by the ligation of B-cell receptors by its cognate antigen, inducing a series of signal cascades. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of these important events is a crucial goal for immunologists. Chimeric B cell receptors provide a powerful tool for analysis of B-cell signal function. However, this method can only be used in tool cells, but cannot be used for in vivo study. Here, we constructed a retroviral vector to encode both heavy chains and light chains of a membrane immunoglobulin, and expressed them in primary B-cells using retroviral gene transfer. Our results demonstrate that the membrane immunoglobulin expressed by retroviral vectors transfer can initiate B-cell receptor-mediated signaling, resulting in the phosphorylation of Syk and Erk1/2 proteins. The results showed that B-cells expressing membrane immunoglobulin can make proliferative responses to cognate antigen both in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, we provide a methodology for rapidly analyzing the downstream signals of B-cell receptors both in vitro and in vivo, which could expedite the identification of proteins involved in B-cell function.