title: Multiple routes to B-cell memory.
abstract: B-cell memory describes the populations of cells that provide long-term humoral immunity: long-lived antibody-secreting plasma cells that reside mainly in the bone marrow and memory B cells. Interestingly, the memory B-cell population is heterogenous, although the importance of this heterogeneity has been unclear. Recent studies have investigated the formation and function of memory in different settings. In particular, T-independent memory-like cells and T-dependent (TD) IgM memory B cells qualitatively differ from canonical TD class-switched memory B cells; however, these studies suggest that IgM memory cells preserve the memory population over long periods of time. These subsets are evocative of the evolution of the humoral immune response, with memory-like cells appearing before acquisition of germinal centers, suggesting that there are multiple pathways to producing B-cell memory.
authors.affiliation: Immunology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. jacobson@wehi.edu.au
authors.forename: Kim L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Good-Jacobson
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Tarlinton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016175:B-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D056724:Immunity, Humoral; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000276:immunology*; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D007075:Immunoglobulin M