TY - JOUR
T1 - The germinal center response
AU - Wolniak, Kristy L.
AU - Shinall, Stephen M.
AU - Waldschmidt, Thomas J.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2004
Y1 - 2004
N2 - The germinal center reaction is the foundation of T-cell-dependent humoral responses. Antigen-specific B cells recruited into germinal centers undergo a complex cellular program that allows for extensive expansion, isotype switching, somatic hypermutation, and differentiation into antibody-forming cells and memory cells. Importantly, the germinal center environment filters the repertoire of differentiating B cells such that high affinity variants are preferentially selected while low affinity or self-reactive clones are eliminated by apoptosis. The present article reviews the many processes that govern germinal center B-cell differentiation, as well as the cellular and molecular elements necessary to initiate and sustain a germinal center response. The major histologic features of the germinal center are also discussed, as well as the current dominant models of the germinal center reaction in humans and mice. Finally, a new model of murine B-cell differentiation is described on the basis of a multiparameter flow cytometric kinetic analysis of germinal center B cells.
AB - The germinal center reaction is the foundation of T-cell-dependent humoral responses. Antigen-specific B cells recruited into germinal centers undergo a complex cellular program that allows for extensive expansion, isotype switching, somatic hypermutation, and differentiation into antibody-forming cells and memory cells. Importantly, the germinal center environment filters the repertoire of differentiating B cells such that high affinity variants are preferentially selected while low affinity or self-reactive clones are eliminated by apoptosis. The present article reviews the many processes that govern germinal center B-cell differentiation, as well as the cellular and molecular elements necessary to initiate and sustain a germinal center response. The major histologic features of the germinal center are also discussed, as well as the current dominant models of the germinal center reaction in humans and mice. Finally, a new model of murine B-cell differentiation is described on the basis of a multiparameter flow cytometric kinetic analysis of germinal center B cells.
KW - B-cell differentiation
KW - B-cell subsets
KW - Ectopic germinal centers
KW - Germinal center B cells
KW - Lymphoid architecture
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U2 - 10.1615/critrevimmunol.v24.20
DO - 10.1615/critrevimmunol.v24.20
M3 - Review article
C2 - 14995913
AN - SCOPUS:10644231649
VL - 24
SP - 39
EP - 65
JO - Critical Reviews in Immunology
JF - Critical Reviews in Immunology
SN - 1040-8401
IS - 1
ER -