ArticleThe Journal of experimental medicine2000
Germinal centers without T cells.
Article in The Journal of experimental medicine, 2000. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 112 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
112 citing papers in PubMed, 296 citations in OpenAlex.
- Targeting T follicular helper cells for lifelong health.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2026Review
- Half a century of pneumococcal vaccination in sickle cell disease: Are we winning the battle or losing immunity?Vaccine · 2026Review
- Expression and Role of the RNA-Binding Protein, ZFP36L1, in Mouse T Follicular Helper Cell Differentiation and Function.European journal of immunology · 2026Article
- Article
- The multilayered identity of B cell memory.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Review
- Maternal Cigarette Smoke Exposure Does Not Impair Influenza Vaccine Responsiveness in Murine Offspring.Vaccines · 2025Article
- Mechanisms underlying persistent liver fibrosis progression in Schistosoma-infected individuals post-treatment.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2025Article
- Coordinated Regulation of Extrafollicular B Cell Responses by IL-12 and IFNγ.Immunological reviews · 2025Review
- The effects of interleukin-21 in the biology of transplant rejection.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- T cell independent antibody responses with class switch and memory using peptides anchored on liposomes.NPJ vaccines · 2024Article
- Memory B cell subsets have divergent developmental origins that are coupled to distinct imprinted epigenetic states.Nature immunology · 2024Article
- 'Persistent germinal center responses: slow-growing trees bear the best fruits'.Current opinion in immunology · 2023Review
- Intrinsic B cell TLR-BCR linked coengagement induces class-switched, hypermutated, neutralizing antibody responses in absence of T cells.Science advances · 2023Article
- Amount of antigen, T follicular helper cells and affinity of founder cells shape the diversity of germinal center B cells: A computational study.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Plasma cell but not CD20-mediated B-cell depletion protects from bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis.The European respiratory journal · 2022Article
- Pharmacologically Inferred Glycolysis and Glutaminolysis Requirement of B Cells in Lupus-Prone Mice.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2022Article
- T-independent antigen induces humoral memory through germinal centers.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2022Article
- Bhlhe40 function in activated B and TFH cells restrains the GC reaction and prevents lymphomagenesis.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2022Article
- Investigating the Mechanism of Germinal Center Shutdown.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Article
- Know your enemy or find your friend?-Induction of IgA at mucosal surfaces.Immunological reviews · 2021Review
52 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Germinal centers are critical for affinity maturation of antibody (Ab) responses. This process allows the production of high-efficiency neutralizing Ab that protects against virus infection and bacterial exotoxins. In germinal centers, responding B cells selectively mutate the genes that encode their receptors for antigen. This process can change Ab affinity and specificity. The mutated cells that produce high-affinity Ab are selected to become Ab-forming or memory B cells, whereas cells that have lost affinity or acquired autoreactivity are eliminated. Normally, T cells are critical for germinal center formation and subsequent B cell selection. Both processes involve engagement of CD40 on B cells by T cells. This report describes how high-affinity B cells can be induced to form large germinal centers in response to (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl) acetyl (NP)-Ficoll in the absence of T cells or signaling through CD40 or CD28. This requires extensive cross-linking of the B cell receptors, and a frequency of antigen-specific B cells of at least 1 in 1,000. These germinal centers abort dramatically at the time when mutated high-affinity B cells are normally selected by T cells. Thus, there is a fail-safe mechanism against autoreactivity, even in the event of thymus-independent germinal center formation.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.