%0 Journal Article %T BMP-6 inhibits growth of mature human B cells; induction of Smad phosphorylation and upregulation of Id1 %A Christian Kersten %A Einar A Sivertsen %A Marit E Hystad %A Lise Forfang %A Erlend B Smeland %A June H Myklebust %J BMC Immunology %D 2005 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1471-2172-6-9 %X The B cells were found to express BMP type I and type II receptors and BMP-6 rapidly induced phosphorylation of Smad1/5/8. Furthermore, Smad-phosphorylation was followed by upregulation of Id1 mRNA and Id1 protein, whereas Id2 and Id3 expression was not affected. Furthermore, we found that BMP-6 had an antiproliferative effect both in na£¿ve (CD19+CD27-) and memory B cells (CD19+CD27+) stimulated with anti-IgM alone or the combined action of anti-IgM and CD40L. Additionally, BMP-6 induced cell death in activated memory B cells. Importantly, the antiproliferative effect of BMP-6 in B-cells was completely neutralized by the natural antagonist, noggin. Furthermore, B cells were demonstrated to upregulate BMP-6 mRNA upon stimulation with anti-IgM.In mature human B cells, BMP-6 inhibited cell growth, and rapidly induced phosphorylation of Smad1/5/8 followed by an upregulation of Id1.Members of the transforming growth factor ¦Â (TGF-¦Â) superfamily play central roles in controlling cellular proliferation, differentiation, migration and apoptosis [1]. These cytokines can be divided into three subgroups: TGF-¦Â, the activins/inhibins, and the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), of which the latter constitute the largest family. BMPs are 30¨C38 kDa hetero- or homodimeric proteins originally identified by their ability to induce ectopic cartilage and bone formation [2,3]. Several studies have demonstrated an essential role of these proteins during embryogenesis, and more recently, also in adult tissues [1]. TGF-¦Â has been intensively studied in normal and malignant haematopoietic cells and is one of the most potent endogenous negative regulators known to date. [4]. In contrast, the effect of BMPs in the immune system has not been widely investigated. In that respect, BMP- 2, -4 and -7 have been found to control differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells [5] and early T cell development [6,7]. BMP-6 has been reported to reduce the number of cobblestone-area-forming cells of normal %U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2172/6/9