title: Experimental sepsis impairs humoral memory in mice.
abstract: Patients with sepsis are often immune suppressed, and experimental mouse models of sepsis also display this feature. However, acute sepsis in mice is also characterized by a generalized B cell activation and plasma cell differentiation, resulting in a marked increase in serum antibody concentration. Its effects on humoral memory are not clearly defined. We measured the effects of experimental sepsis on long-term immunological memory for a defined antigen: we induced colon ascendens stent peritonitis (CASP) 8 weeks after 2 rounds of immunization with ovalbumin. Four weeks later, the antigen-specific bone marrow plasma cell count had doubled in immunized non-septic animals, but remained unchanged in immunized septic animals. Sepsis also caused a decrease in antigen-specific serum antibody concentration. We conclude that sepsis weakens humoral memory by impeding the antigen-specific plasma cell pool's development, which is not complete 8 weeks after secondary immunization.
authors: Institute of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors: Christian
authors: C
authors: Pötschke
authors: Wolfram
authors: W
authors: Kessler
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Maier
authors: Claus-Dieter
authors: CD
authors: Heidecke
authors: Barbara M
authors: BM
authors: Bröker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D056724:Immunity, Humoral / Q000276:immunology*; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D007074:Immunoglobulin G