¹Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia

Correspondence: Dr D Ulgiati, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical, Biomolecular and Chemical Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia. E-mail: daniela.ulgiati@uwa.edu.au

Received 15 July 2009; Revised 25 August 2009; Accepted 27 August 2009; Published online 6 October 2009.

Abstract

The notch signaling pathway is evolutionarily conserved across the animal kingdom and regulates developmental 'decisions', such as cell fate commitment, differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. In the mammalian immune system, notch signaling events have been extensively studied during T lymphopoiesis, and have a role both during early development, as well as differentiation into discreet effector cell compartments. In contrast, the impact of notch signaling in the B-cell compartment is less obvious. It is clear that notch signaling is crucial to generate the marginal zone B-cell population located within the spleen; however, the full effects of notch signaling during normal B-cell development remain unresolved. Nevertheless, there is compelling evidence that notch signaling regulates multiple stages of B-cell differentiation and in shaping the antibody repertoire; however, the molecular details have not been elucidated. This review explores the relationship between notch signaling and B-cell development with attention to how these processes contribute to a normal B-cell repertoire.