Affinity maturation of antibody responses is mediated by differential plasma cell proliferation

2024/11/29 by Andrew J. MacLean, Lachlan P. Deimel, Pengcheng Zhou +9 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Immune Cell Function and Interaction #Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research #T-cell and B-cell Immunology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1101/2024.11.26.625430

openalex publication_date 2024/11/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

Increased antibody affinity over time after vaccination, known as affinity maturation, is a prototypical feature of immune responses. Recent studies have shown that a diverse collection of B cells, producing antibodies with a wide spectrum of different affinities, are selected into the plasma cell (PC) pathway. How affinity-permissive selection enables PC affinity maturation remains unknown. Here we report that PC precursors (prePC) expressing high affinity antibodies receive higher levels of T follicular helper (Tfh)-derived help and divide at higher rates than their lower affinity counterparts once they leave the GC. Thus, differential cell division by selected prePCs accounts for how diverse precursors develop into a PC compartment that mediates serological affinity maturation.

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Discussions

• Affinity maturation of antibody responses is mediated by differential plasma cell proliferation doi.org/10.1101/2024... [bsky, 10 points, 0 comments]

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