title: Exploiting human memory B cell heterogeneity for improved vaccine efficacy.
abstract: The major goal in vaccination is establishment of long-term, prophylactic humoral memory to a pathogen. Two major components to long-lived humoral memory are plasma cells for the production of specific immunoglobulin and memory B cells that survey for their specific antigen in the periphery for later affinity maturation, proliferation, and differentiation. The study of human B cell memory has been aided by the discovery of a general marker for B cell memory, expression of CD27; however, new data suggests the existence of CD27⁻ memory B cells as well. These recently described non-canonical memory populations have increasingly pointed to the heterogeneity of the memory compartment. The novel B memory subsets in humans appear to have unique origins, localization, and functions compared to what was considered to be a "classical" memory B cell. In this article, we review the known B cell memory subsets, the establishment of B cell memory in vaccination and infection, and how understanding these newly described subsets can inform vaccine design and disease treatment.
authors.affiliation: Committee on Immunology, Section of Rheumatology, The Knapp Center for Lupus and Immunology Research, The University of Chicago Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Noel T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: Carole J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Henry Dunand
authors.forename: Patrick C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Wilson