title: The role of germinal centers for antiviral B cell responses.
abstract: Germinal centers (GCs) are crucially involved in T cell-dependent B cell responses. B cells rapidly proliferate within GCs and their Ig variable region genes undergo hypermutation. Cognate T helper cells and antigen presented in native form on follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) select B cells expressing high-affinity Igs, leading to affinity maturation and the generation of memory B cells. In addition to these well-established functions of GCs, this article presents evidence that they also play a crucial role for the maintenance of specific memory Ig titers and for the prevention of viral antibody escape mutants.
authors.affiliation: Ontario Cancer Institute, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Canada. bachmann@oci.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Bachmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000915:Antibody Affinity / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D018858:Germinal Center / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D006241:Haptens / Q000276:immunology; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D007156:Immunologic Memory / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D014780:Viruses / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006241:Haptens; D007136:Immunoglobulins