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- Title
Germinal center reutilization by newly activated B cells.
- Authors
Schwickert, Tanja A; Alabyev, Boris; Manser, Tim; Nussenzweig, Michel C
- Abstract
Germinal centers (GCs) are specialized structures in which B lymphocytes undergo clonal expansion, class switch recombination, somatic hypermutation, and affinity maturation. Although these structures were previously thought to contain a limited number of isolated B cell clones, recent in vivo imaging studies revealed that they are in fact dynamic and appear to be open to their environment. We demonstrate that B cells can colonize heterologous GCs. Invasion of primary GCs after subsequent immunization is most efficient when T cell help is shared by the two immune responses; however, it also occurs when the immune responses are entirely unrelated. We conclude that GCs are dynamic anatomical structures that can be reutilized by newly activated B cells during immune responses.
- Publication
The Journal of experimental medicine, 2009, Vol 206, Issue 13, p2907
- ISSN
1540-9538
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1084/jem.20091225