Abstract
This paper synthesizes recent progress toward understanding the integrated control systems and fail-safes that guide the quality and quantity of antibody produced by B cells. We focus on four key decisions: (1) the choice between proliferation or death in perifollicular B cells in the first 3 days after antigen encounter; (2) differentiation of proliferating perifollicular B cells into extrafollicular plasma cells or germinal center B cells; (3) positive selection of B cell antigen receptor (BCR) affinity for foreign antigen versus negative selection of BCR affinity for self antigen in germinal center B cells; and (4) survival versus death of antibody-secreting plasma cells. Understanding the engineering of these control systems represents a challenging future step for treating disorders of antibody production in autoimmunity, allergy and immunodeficiency.
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We thank our collaborators and colleagues for input. Supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, Wellcome Trust and US National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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Goodnow, C., Vinuesa, C., Randall, K. et al. Control systems and decision making for antibody production. Nat Immunol 11, 681–688 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.1900
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.1900
