Germinal center reutilization by newly activated B cells

TA Schwickert, B Alabyev, T Manser… - Journal of Experimental …, 2009 - rupress.org
TA Schwickert, B Alabyev, T Manser, MC Nussenzweig
Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2009rupress.org
Germinal centers (GCs) are specialized structures in which B lymphocytes undergo clonal
expansion, class switch recombination, somatic hypermutation, and affinity maturation.
Although these structures were previously thought to contain a limited number of isolated B
cell clones, recent in vivo imaging studies revealed that they are in fact dynamic and appear
to be open to their environment. We demonstrate that B cells can colonize heterologous
GCs. Invasion of primary GCs after subsequent immunization is most efficient when T cell …
Germinal centers (GCs) are specialized structures in which B lymphocytes undergo clonal expansion, class switch recombination, somatic hypermutation, and affinity maturation. Although these structures were previously thought to contain a limited number of isolated B cell clones, recent in vivo imaging studies revealed that they are in fact dynamic and appear to be open to their environment. We demonstrate that B cells can colonize heterologous GCs. Invasion of primary GCs after subsequent immunization is most efficient when T cell help is shared by the two immune responses; however, it also occurs when the immune responses are entirely unrelated. We conclude that GCs are dynamic anatomical structures that can be reutilized by newly activated B cells during immune responses.
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