Figure 1

Ig mRNA levels increase with B cell differentiation. As B lymphocytes pass through stages of maturation from precursor B cells to naïve B cells to germinal center cells to post-germinal center cells then to plasma cells, the level of mRNA encoding immunoglobulin increases. Current slide-based methods are generally able to detect the mRNA levels found in the later stages of differentiation (generally in the post-germinal center stages).