Class-switched memory B cells remodel BCRs within secondary germinal centers.

ABSTRACT: Effective vaccines induce high-affinity memory B cells and durable antibody responses through accelerated mechanisms of natural selection. Secondary changes in antibody repertoires after vaccine boosts suggest progressive rediversification of B cell receptors (BCRs), but the underlying mechanisms remain unresolved. Here, the integrated specificity and function of individual memory B cell progeny revealed ongoing evolution of polyclonal antibody specificities through germinal center (GC)-specific transcriptional activity. At the clonal and subclonal levels, single-cell expression of the genes encoding the costimulatory molecule CD83 and the DNA polymerase Polη segregated the secondary GC transcriptional program into four stages that regulated divergent mechanisms of memory BCR evolution. Ou

SUBMITTER: McHeyzer-Williams LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4333102 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature