| First Author | Shih TA | Year | 2002 |
| Journal | Nat Immunol | Volume | 3 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 570-5 |
| PubMed ID | 12021782 | Mgi Jnum | J:254163 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6111421 | Doi | 10.1038/ni803 |
| Citation | Shih TA, et al. (2002) Role of BCR affinity in T cell dependent antibody responses in vivo. Nat Immunol 3(6):570-5 |
| abstractText | Antibody affinity for antigen is believed to govern B lymphocyte selection during T-dependent immune responses. To examine antibody affinity in T cell dependent immune responses, we compared mice that carry targeted V(H)B1-8 antibody genes with high or low antigen-binding affinity. We found that high- and low-affinity B cells had the same intrinsic capacity to respond to antigen, but in experiments where limiting numbers of high- and low-affinity B cells were mixed in wild-type recipient mice, only the high-affinity B cells accumulated in germinal centers (GCs). In GCs, high-affinity B cells accumulated fewer V(H) somatic mutations than low affinity B cells. This effect was due to selections as the frequency of mutation in noncoding immunoglobulin gene DNA is the same in high- and low- affinity B cells. Thus, B cells recruited to the GC appeared to undergo a fixed mutation program, regardless of initial B cell receptor affinity. We conclude that in addition to the selection that occurs in GCs, stringent selection for high-affinity clones is also imposed in the early stages of the T cell dependent immune response in vivo. |
