Understanding memory B cell selection. 2021

Stephen Lindsly, and Maya Gupta, and Cooper Stansbury, and Indika Rajapakse
Department of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States.

The mammalian adaptive immune system has evolved over millions of years to become an incredibly effective defense against foreign antigens. The adaptive immune system's humoral response creates plasma B cells and memory B cells, each with their own immunological objectives. The affinity maturation process is widely viewed as a heuristic to solve the global optimization problem of finding B cells with high affinity to the antigen. However, memory B cells appear to be purposely selected earlier in the affinity maturation process and have lower affinity. We propose that this memory B cell selection process may be an approximate solution to two optimization problems: optimizing for affinity to similar antigens in the future despite mutations or other minor differences, and optimizing to warm start the generation of plasma B cells in the future. We use simulations to provide evidence for our hypotheses, taking into account data showing that certain B cell mutations are more likely than others. Our findings are consistent with memory B cells having high-affinity to mutated antigens, but do not provide strong evidence that memory B cells will be more useful than selected naive B cells for seeding the secondary germinal centers.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007156 Immunologic Memory The altered state of immunologic responsiveness resulting from initial contact with antigen, which enables the individual to produce antibodies more rapidly and in greater quantity in response to secondary antigenic stimulus. Immune Memory,Immunological Memory,Memory, Immunologic,Immune Memories,Immunologic Memories,Immunological Memories,Memory, Immune,Memory, Immunological
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D000941 Antigens Substances that are recognized by the immune system and induce an immune reaction. Antigen
D001402 B-Lymphocytes Lymphoid cells concerned with humoral immunity. They are short-lived cells resembling bursa-derived lymphocytes of birds in their production of immunoglobulin upon appropriate stimulation. B-Cells, Lymphocyte,B-Lymphocyte,Bursa-Dependent Lymphocytes,B Cells, Lymphocyte,B Lymphocyte,B Lymphocytes,B-Cell, Lymphocyte,Bursa Dependent Lymphocytes,Bursa-Dependent Lymphocyte,Lymphocyte B-Cell,Lymphocyte B-Cells,Lymphocyte, Bursa-Dependent,Lymphocytes, Bursa-Dependent
D056704 Adaptive Immunity Protection from an infectious disease agent that is mediated by B- and T- LYMPHOCYTES following exposure to specific antigen, and characterized by IMMUNOLOGIC MEMORY. It can result from either previous infection with that agent or vaccination (IMMUNITY, ACTIVE), or transfer of antibody or lymphocytes from an immune donor (IMMUNIZATION, PASSIVE). Acquired Immunity,Hybrid Immunity,Adaptive Immune Response,Adoptive Immunity,Immunity, Adaptive,Hybrid Immunities,Immune Response, Adaptive,Immunity, Acquired,Immunity, Adoptive,Immunity, Hybrid,Response, Adaptive Immune
D018858 Germinal Center The activated center of a lymphoid follicle in secondary lymphoid tissue where B-LYMPHOCYTES are stimulated by antigens and helper T cells (T-LYMPHOCYTES, HELPER-INDUCER) are stimulated to generate memory cells. Center, Germinal,Centers, Germinal,Germinal Centers

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