Germinal centers form in the body’s lymphatic tissues shortly after vaccination or infection. Once inside a germinal center, B cells undergo rapid mutations and, through a process of natural selection ...

If B cells are the munitions factories of the immune system, manufacturing antibodies to neutralize harmful pathogens, then the tiny biological structures known as germinal centers are its ...

A vaccine strategy involving formulation changes, an initial escalating dose, and a longer wait for booster immunization results in more-effective antibody production against HIV in rhesus monkeys, a ...

A new study provides mechanistic insights into how live attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) vaccines (LAVs) can protect monkeys from infection with pathogenic SIV. The authors show that ...

The germinal centers that form in the body's lymph nodes work as a fitness boot camp in which B cells evolve to produce antibodies of increasingly higher affinity to an invading pathogen. This new ...

The germinal center of the immune system plays a complicated dual role in the body: vitally selecting B cells secreting high-affinity antibodies to serve the immune system in the fight against foreign ...

Cells jostling for a spot in a germinal center face a cutthroat admissions process. Formed after exposure to a pathogen or vaccine, germinal centers act as a kind of immune system training academy, ...

Antibody responses are triggered when naive B cells bind antigen on the surfaces of antigen-presenting cells (APCs), such as subcapsular macrophages 1,2,3 and dendritic cells 4,5. This initiates BCR ...

Understanding the ways our immune response changes as we age holds the key to designing better vaccines and boosting protection for people most at risk. Research published by Dr Michelle Linterman and ...

Germinal centers are transient structures in the lymph nodes where antibody-producing B cells proliferate and differentiate at extraordinary rates. Germinal centers can be visually divided into a dark ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (February 18, 2016) - When it comes to selecting for B cells that produce antibodies to hostile viruses and bacteria, the immune system hedges its bets. Within the germinal centers ...