Definition: In this task, you're given a paragraph from the research paper and your task is to generate a suitable title for the research paper based on the given paper. Under 100 words is a good title length.
Input: DAP-related apoptotic kinase-2 (DRAK2), a DAP kinase family member, is highly expressed in B and T lymphocytes in the human and the mouse. To determine whether DRAK2 plays a role in B cell activation and differentiation, we analyzed germinal centers (GCs) and the specific antibody response to NP in drak2 −/− mice immunized with the thymus-dependent (TD) conjugated hapten NP 16 -CGG. In drak2 −/− mice, spleen GCs were normal in size and morphology, but their number was reduced by as much as five-fold, as compared to their wild-type littermates. This was not due to a defect in B cell proliferation, as the BrdU uptake was comparable in DRAK2-deficient and wild-type B cells. Rather, the proportion of apoptotic GC B and T cells in drak2 −/− mice was significantly higher than that in wild-type control mice, as shown by 7-AAD and TUNEL staining. In drak2 −/− mice, the generation of high affinity IgG antibodies was impaired in spite of the seemingly normal somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch DNA recombination (CSR) machineries in drak2 −/− B cells. In NP 16 -CGG-immunized drak2 −/− mice, T cell-intrinsic Bcl-xL transgene expression increased the number of GCs and rescued the high affinity IgG response to NP. These findings suggest a novel role for DRAK2 in regulating the GC reaction and the response to TD antigens, perhaps through increased survival of T cells and enhanced B cell positive selection. They also suggest that DRAK2-deficiency is not involved in regulating intrinsic B cell apoptosis.

A role for DRAK2 in the germinal center reaction and the antibody response