Mechanisms of selection and differentiation in germinal centers

✍ Scribed by Yong-Jun Liu; Odette de Bouteiller; Isabelle Fugier-Vivier

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 536 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0952-7915
• DOI: 10.1016/s0952-7915(97)80145-8

✦ Synopsis

The choice between death and survival, a feature of early B cell development, is a choice also faced by mature B cells. If they survive this early developmental decision, mature B cells then face a second choice: either to undergo either terminal differentiation into plasma cells or to differentiate into memory B cells. Antigens, T cell signals (cytokines, CD40 ligand and Fas ligand) as well as the activation state of B cells determine their ultimate fate.