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Evaluation of T Follicular Helper Cells and Germinal Center Response During Influenza A Virus Infection in Mice
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Human Germinal Center Reaction: Assessing T Follicular Helper-B Cells Interaction In Vitro

Emeline Thevenon1, Vanessa Cornacchione1, Elisabetta Traggiai2

  • 1Novartis Biologics Center-Mechanistic Immunology, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland.

Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.)
|April 30, 2021
PubMed

Antibody responses deeply rely on the interaction of antigen-primed B cells and CD4 helper T cells in the context of germinal center reactions, through signals provided by costimulatory molecules and cytokines. B-cell proliferation and differentiation in antibody-secreting plasma cells are processes that critically depend on the helper function of a specific CD4 T-cell subset, known as follicular helper T cells (Tfh). Here, we describe a method that mimics in vitro the cross talk between Tfh and B cells occurring in the germinal center. The procedure is based on setting up a coculture system with B cells and Tfh isolated from blood of healthy donors, or tonsils removed upon surgical intervention, in order to recapitulate in vitro the Tfh-dependent mechanisms leading to B cells' activation, proliferation, and differentiation.

Keywords:
Class switch recombinationCocultureFollicular helper T cells (Tfh)Germinal center (GC)Naïve B cellsPlasma cells differentiationProliferation

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