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Memory B cells in allergy: B cell activation and response

Part 1 of 2
Published on May 30, 2024   24 min

Other Talks in the Series: The Immune System - Key Concepts and Questions

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0:00
Hello. My name is Kelly Bruton. I'm a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. My research is centered around studying adaptive immune responses involved in IgE mediated allergies, particularly looking at the ontogeny and function of allergen-specific memory B cells. In today's talk, I'll be talking about the role and the presence of memory B cells in allergy.
0:24
In today's talk, I'll start with a brief and broad overview of the primary B cell response, the resulting B cell effector functions and how the ensuing establishment of B cell immune memory and the heterogeneity in B cell memory that has recently been uncovered. Processes like class-switched re-combination and affinity maturation will be mentioned in this talk. But the mechanism through which these occur should be reviewed elsewhere. In Part 2, I'll focus on the role of B cells in allergy. I'll discuss our understanding of the functional profile of allergen-specific memory B cells, whether these cells irreversibly commit to an IgE fate, and potential future directions to harness memory B cell plasticity in the treatment of long-lived allergies.
1:11
To begin with naïve B cell activation, antigen is transported from the periphery. The site of infection, for example, to the draining lymph nodes, and this initiates the process of naïve B cell activation. Antigen can be transported possibly to secondary lymphoid organs, such as lymph nodes through both blood and lymph, and can also be actively transported to these sites by antigen presenting cells that have engulfed or phagocytosed the antigen at a peripheral site. The lymph node is a highly organized structure containing an outer capsule, then a cortex, paracortex, and the innermost region referred to as the medulla. Between the capsule and the cortex is a subcapsular space which sees the lymph fluid that enters through the afferent lymphatic vessels. Within this space, you can find subcapsular sinus macrophages that are able to efficiently capture antigen from the draining lymph fluid and translocate this antigen to the neighboring cortex region which houses B cell follicles. Here, B cells can then acquire antigen immune complexes from subcapsular macrophages in a complement dependent manner, and transport the antigen to follicular dendritic cells which are residing in the B cell follicles and they're able to stably retain this antigen long term. Once antigen is present within lymph nodes, cognate B cells can interact with the native antigen through their B cell receptor, and this initiates a cascade of downstream events necessary for full activation. Upon recognizing the antigen, these B cells become activated triggering a cascade of immune responses. This will lead to the proliferation and differentiation of these cells into effector cells, which are capable of producing mass amounts of antibodies that will specifically target the insulting antigen.

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Memory B cells in allergy: B cell activation and response

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