| First Author | Kaji T | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | J Exp Med | Volume | 209 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 2079-97 |
| PubMed ID | 23027924 | Mgi Jnum | J:190943 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5450783 | Doi | 10.1084/jem.20120127 |
| Citation | Kaji T, et al. (2012) Distinct cellular pathways select germline-encoded and somatically mutated antibodies into immunological memory. J Exp Med 209(11):2079-97 |
| abstractText | One component of memory in the antibody system is long-lived memory B cells selected for the expression of somatically mutated, high-affinity antibodies in the T cell-dependent germinal center (GC) reaction. A puzzling observation has been that the memory B cell compartment also contains cells expressing unmutated, low-affinity antibodies. Using conditional Bcl6 ablation, we demonstrate that these cells are generated through proliferative expansion early after immunization in a T cell-dependent but GC-independent manner. They soon become resting and long-lived and display a novel distinct gene expression signature which distinguishes memory B cells from other classes of B cells. GC-independent memory B cells are later joined by somatically mutated GC descendants at roughly equal proportions and these two types of memory cells efficiently generate adoptive secondary antibody responses. Deletion of T follicular helper (Tfh) cells significantly reduces the generation of mutated, but not unmutated, memory cells early on in the response. Thus, B cell memory is generated along two fundamentally distinct cellular differentiation pathways. One pathway is dedicated to the generation of high-affinity somatic antibody mutants, whereas the other preserves germ line antibody specificities and may prepare the organism for rapid responses to antigenic variants of the invading pathogen. |
