| First Author | Matsumoto M | Year | 1996 |
| Journal | Nature | Volume | 382 |
| Issue | 6590 | Pages | 462-6 |
| PubMed ID | 8684487 | Mgi Jnum | J:34433 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:81891 | Doi | 10.1038/382462a0 |
| Citation | Matsumoto M, et al. (1996) Affinity maturation without germinal centres in lymphotoxin-alpha-deficient mice. Nature 382(6590):462-6 |
| abstractText | Affinity maturation by somatic hypermutation is thought to occur within germinal centres. Mice deficient in lymphotoxin-alpha (LT alpha-/- mice) have no lymph nodes or Peyer's patches, and fail to form germinal centres in the spleen. We tested whether germinal centres are essential for maturation of antibody responses to T-cell-dependent antigens. LT alpha-/- mice immunized with low doses of (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl-ovalbumin (NP-OVA) showed dramatically impaired production of high-affinity anti-NP IgG1. However, LT alpha-/- mice immunized with high doses of NP-OVA, even though they failed to produce germinal centres, manifested a high-affinity anti-NP IgG1 response similar to wild-type mice. Furthermore, when LT alpha-/- mice were multiply immunized with high doses of NP-OVA, the predominantly expressed anti-NP VH gene segment VH186.2 showed somatic mutations typical of affinity maturation. Thus, B-cell memory and affinity maturation are not absolutely dependent on the presence of germinal centres. |
