Layered evolution in the immune system: a view from history.

Although much had still to be learned, evidence indicating that B-1a lymphocytes very likely belonged to a distinct lineage was largely in place by the time of the first large B-1a conference in 1991. The widely respected group of immunologists attending that meeting (including Tasuko Honjo and Klaus Rajewsky) developed and ultimately published the B-1a notation still in use today. Here, I briefly review some of the early B-1a findings that underlie current studies. I close with a brief summary of recent studies, mainly from my laboratory, showing that the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) we all know and love as the origin of the cells that populate the adult lymphoid and myeloid system today is nonetheless not the origin of the B-1a lymphocytes with which most of us work today.