Highly functional and prolonged germinal center T follicular helper cell responses are associated with enhanced neutralizing antibody development.

ABSTRACT: Durability of T follicular helper (Tfh) cell responses is pivotal for generating high affinity antibodies. We characterized Tfh cell responses to HIV Env immunization longitudinally in non-human primates, analyzing >500,000 CD4⁺ T cells from 192 lymph node (LN) samples collected over 60 weeks, including >36,000 vaccine-specific Tfh cells. An escalating-dose priming regimen elicited higher and more sustained Tfh cell responses in LNs, compared with conventional bolus immunization. Multiple vaccine-specific germinal center (GC)-Tfh subpopulations, including interleukin (IL)4^hi and IL21^hi GC-Tfh cells, were continually present. Antigen-specific Tfh clones persisted within GCs for over 6 months, maintaining stable gene expression profiles and showing no signs o

SUBMITTER: Marina-Zarate E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12782651 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature