Regulation of germinal center responses, memory B cells and plasma cell formation-an update

Lynn M Corcoran1, David M Tarlinton2

  • 1Molecular Immunology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia; Department of Medical Biology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia.

Progress in understanding humoral immunity has been accelerated by the powerful experimental approaches of genetics, genomics and imaging. Excellent reviews of these advances appeared in 2015 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the discovery of B cell and T cell lineages in the chicken. Here we provide a contemporary model of B cell differentiation, highlighting recent publications illuminating germinal center (GC), memory B cell and antibody-secreting plasma cell biology. The important contributions of CD4T cells to antibody responses have been thoroughly reviewed elsewhere.

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