B cell activation in vitro: thymus-dependent immune responses and bacterial cell surface proteins
In this thesis aspects of peripheral B lymphocyte differentiation were studied. Through in vitro experiments, B lymphocyte activation was assessed. B lymphocytes express immunoglobulin (Ig) specific for a certain antigen on the cell surface, and when surface Ig is crosslinked by an antigen, the cell is activated. Antigens giving rise to a T cell dependent immune response are internalized by the B