V(D)J recombination and immunoglobulin class switch recombination (CSR) are two somatic rearrangement mechanisms that proceed through the introduction of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in DNA. Although the DNA repair factor XRCC4 is essential for the resolution of DNA DSB during V(D)J recombination, its role in CSR has not been established. To bypass the embryonic lethality of XRCC4 deletion in mice, we developed a conditional XRCC4 knockout (KO) using LoxP-flanked XRCC4 cDNA lentiviral transgenesis. B lymphocyte restricted deletion of XRCC4 in these mice lead to an average two-fold reduction in CSR in vivo and in vitro. Our results connect XRCC4 and the nonhomologous end joining DNA repair pathway to CSR while reflecting the possible use of an alternative pathway in the repair of CSR DSB in the absence of XRCC4. In addition, this new conditional KO approach should be useful in studying other lethal mutations in mice.

The immune system is the site of intense DNA damage/ modification, which occur during the development and maturation of B and T lymphocytes. V(D)J recombination is initiated by the Rag1 and Rag2 proteins and the formation of a DNA double-strand break (DNA dsb). This DNA lesion is repaired through the use of the nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway, several factors of which have been identified through the survey of immunodeficient conditions in humans and mice. Upon antigenic recognition in secondary lymphoid organs, mature B cells further diversify their repertoire through class switch recombination (CSR). CSR is a region-specific rearrangement process triggered by the activation-induced cytidine deaminase factor and also proceeds through the introduction of DNA dsb. However, unlike V(D)J recombination, CSR does not rely strictly on NHEJ for the repair of the DNA lesion. Instead, CSR, but not V(D)J recombination, requires the major factors of the DNA damage response. V(D)J recombination and CSR thus represent an interesting paradigm to study the regulation among the various DNA repair pathways. Oncogene (2007) 26, 7780-7791; doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1210875 Keywords: V(D)J recombination; class switch recombination; SCID; Artemis; Cernunnos; NHEJ V(D)J recombination and CSR: two rearrangement processes that shape the immune system repertoire B and T lymphocytes respond to foreign pathogens through specialized antigenic receptors, the B-cell receptor and T-cell receptor, respectively. The required diversity of these receptors is ensured by the V(D)J recombination process (Figure 1) which assembles previously scattered Variable (V), Diversity (D) and Joining (J) encoding gene segments through a specialized somatic DNA rearrangement mechanism (Tonegawa, 1983). The reaction is initiated by the lymphoid-specific factors, Rag1 and Rag2, which recognize recombination signal sequences (RSS) that flank all V, D and J gene units and introduce a DNA dsb at the border of the RSS (see Dudley et al. (2005) for a review on V(D)J recombination). The resulting DNA double-strand break (DNA dsb) is resolved by the ubiquitous DNA repair machinery known as non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ). The convergent efforts of scientists in the immunology and DNA repair fields were decisive in defining the various actors and molecular mechanisms of this DNA repair pathway over the years as will be discussed below.The terminal maturation of B lymphocytes, which occurs in germinal centres of secondary lymphoid organs upon antigen recognition, is accompanied by two additional molecular processing of immunoglobulin genes that increase the efficiency of the humoral response: (1) the class switch recombination (CSR, Figure 2) exchanges the immunoglobulin (Ig) constant region (CH), thus modifying the function of the Ig without altering its antigenic specificity (Manis et al., 2002b) and (2) somatic hypermutations are introduced in the Ig variable domains, thus increasing their affinity for antigen (Papavasiliou and Schatz, 2002). These two events ar...