Regulation of B-cell development by antibody specificity.

Although autoantigen-induced negative selection plays an important role in shaping the mature B-cell repertoire, studies in recent years have suggested that differentiation into any of the three mature B-cell subsets (marginal zone B cells, follicular B cells and B-1 B cells) is not a passive product of autoreactive B-cell elimination. Instead, evidence suggests that entry into a mature subset involves active B-cell receptor signaling and self-antigen-mediated positive selection.