ArticleThe Journal of experimental medicine2002
Very low affinity B cells form germinal centers, become memory B cells, and participate in secondary immune responses when higher affinity competition is reduced.
Article in The Journal of experimental medicine, 2002. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers.
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Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed.
- Self-tolerance curtails the B cell repertoire to microbial epitopes.JCI insight · 2019Trial
- Antibody-mediated diversification of primary and secondary humoral immune responses.The Journal of experimental medicine · 2026Article
- Structure and inhibition of the sperm TMEM95-FIMP complex in mammalian fertilization.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Chronic infection perturbs the affinity hierarchy of antiviral B cells.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Local antibody feedback enforces a checkpoint on affinity maturation in the germinal center and promotes epitope spreading.Immunity · 2026Article
- The multilayered identity of B cell memory.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Review
- Heterologous immunization modulates B-cell epitope competition between helper peptides and the MPER segment in MPER/liposome vaccines.NPJ vaccines · 2026Article
- Germline-Targeting Strategies to Induce bNAbs against HIV-1.Current HIV research · 2026Review
- Antibody Mediated Diversification of Primary and Secondary Immune Responses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Antibody feedback establishes an affinity brake in the germinal center.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Immunofocusing on the conserved fusion peptide of HIV envelope glycoprotein in rhesus macaques.NPJ vaccines · 2025Article
- Immunofocusing on the conserved fusion peptide of HIV envelope glycoprotein in rhesus macaques.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Allosteric inhibition of the IZUMO1-JUNO fertilization complex by the naturally occurring antisperm antibody OBF13.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Review
- Tertiary lymphoid structures in diseases: immune mechanisms and therapeutic advances.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- Mechanical control of antigen detection and discrimination by T and B cell receptors.Biophysical journal · 2024Review
- Affinity gaps among B cells in germinal centers drive the selection of MPER precursors.Nature immunology · 2024Article
- B cell-reactive triad of B cells, follicular helper and regulatory T cells at homeostasis.Cell research · 2024Article
- Assessing the Affinity Spectrum of the Antigen-Specific B Cell Repertoire via ImmunoSpotMethods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2024Article
- To whom B cells toll extrafollicular responses.Genes and immunity · 2023Article
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
To understand the relationship between the affinity of the B cell antigen receptor (BCR) and the immune response to antigen, two lines of immunoglobulin H chain transgenic (Tg) mice were created. H50Gmu(a) and T1(V23)mu(a) mice express mu H chain transgenes that associate with the lambda1 L chains to bind the (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl hapten with association constants (K(a)s) of only 1.2 x 10(5) M(-1) and 3 x 10(4) M(-1), respectively. Both lines mounted substantial antibody-forming cell (AFC) and germinal center (GC) responses. H50Gmu(a) Tg mice also generated memory B cells. T1(V23)mu(a) B cells formed AFC and GCs, but were largely replaced in late GCs by antigen-specific cells that express endogenous BCRs. Thus, B lymphocytes carrying BCRs with affinities previously thought to be irrelevant in specific immune responses are in fact capable of complete T cell-dependent immune responses when relieved of substantial competition from other B cells. The failure to observe such B cells normally in late primary responses and in memory B cell populations is the result of competition, rather than an intrinsic inability of low affinity B cells.
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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.