Work

New Methods To Analyze B Cell Immune Responses to Thymus-Dependent Antigen Sheep Red Blood Cells

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: B cells contribute critically to an effective immune response by producing Ag-specific Abs. During the immune response to so-called "thymus-dependent Ags," activated B cells seek T cell help and form germinal centers. In contrast, thymus-independent Ags generally do not induce germinal center formation. In the germinal center, B cells undergo somatic hypermutation, affinity-based clonal expansion, and differentiation to produce plasma cells and memory B cells. Valuable insight into these processes has been gained by using model hapten-carrier complexes or SRBCs. SRBCs induce robust germinal center formation in mice. Therefore, this Ag is commonly used to study germinal center responses. In contrast to haptenated Ags, thus far it has been difficult to measure the titer of Ag-specific Abs or the expansion of Ag-specific B cells after immunization with SRBCs. We have developed new, simple methods to access these parameters, thus providing new tools to study germinal center and Ab responses.

Source: The Journal of Immunology

DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1700454

Authors: Ellen J McAllister, John R Apgar, Charlotte R Leung, Robert C Rickert, Julia Jellusova

Institutions: University of Freiburg, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute

Language: English

Topic: T-cell and B-cell Immunology

Subfield: Immunology

Field: Immunology and Microbiology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases