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Science 13 December 2002:
Vol. 298. no. 5601, p. 2087
DOI: 10.1126/science.298.5601.2087m
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This Week in Science
What persuades a memory lymphocyte to stick around for years after an infection has been cleared? For B cells, the explanations have been that either antigens persist somehow or that some B cells develop into long-lived antibody-secreting plasma cells that need no stimulation. Bernasconi et al. (p. 2199) provide evidence for an intermediate mechanism in which nonspecific stimuli--not limited to antigens from any one pathogen--spur B cells into continued antibody production. In culture, human memory, but not naïve, B cells divided strongly in response to CpG sequences of DNA, which are powerful signals to innate immune cells. The T cell cytokine interleukin-15 evoked the same response and, like CpG, could induce some B cells to become plasma cells. Frequencies of antigen-specific plasma B cells and levels of circulating antibody in individuals more than a decade after vaccination agreed with predictions made from these experiments.
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)
