ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5306-5911
Current Organisation
Children's Cancer Institute Australia
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Publisher: Rockefeller University Press
Date: 29-10-2020
DOI: 10.1084/JEM.20191167
Abstract: The TNF superfamily ligand BAFF maintains the survival of naive B cells by signaling through its surface receptor, BAFFR. Activated B cells maintain expression of BAFFR after they differentiate into germinal center (GC) or memory B cells (MBCs). However, the functions of BAFFR in these antigen-experienced B cell populations remain unclear. Here, we show that B cell–intrinsic BAFFR does not play a significant role in the survival or function of GC B cells or in the generation of the somatically mutated MBCs derived from them. Instead, BAFF/BAFFR signaling was required to generate the unmutated, GC-independent MBCs that differentiate directly from activated B cell blasts early in the response. Furthermore, lification of BAFFR signaling in responding B cells did not affect GCs or the generation of GC-derived MBCs but greatly expanded the GC-independent MBC response. Although BAFF/BAFFR signaling specifically controlled the formation of the GC-independent MBC response, both types of MBCs required input from this pathway for optimal long-term survival.
Publisher: IEEE
Date: 08-2011
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 06-07-2011
DOI: 10.3390/S110707055
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 25-07-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FIMMU.2022.951385
Abstract: Antibodies are theoretically limitless in their ersity and specificity to foreign antigens however they are constrained by the need to avoid binding to self. Germinal centers (GC) allow ersification and maturation of the antibody response towards the foreign antigen. While self-tolerance mechanisms controlling self-reactivity during B cell maturation are well recognized, the mechanisms by which GCs balance self-tolerance and foreign binding especially in the face of cross-reactivity between self and foreign, remain much less well defined. In this review we explore the extent to which GC self-tolerance restricts affinity maturation. We present studies suggesting that the outcome is situationally dependent, affected by affinity and avidity to self-antigen, and the extent to which self-binding and foreign-binding are interdependent. While auto-reactive GC B cells can mutate away from self while maturing towards the foreign antigen, if no mutational trajectories allow for self-reactive redemption, self-tolerance prevails and GC responses to the foreign pathogen are restricted, except when self-tolerance checkpoints are relaxed. Finally, we consider whether polyreactivity is subject to the same level of restriction in GC responses, especially if polyreactivity is linked to an increase in foreign protection, as occurs in certain broadly neutralizing antibodies. Overall, the outcomes for GC B cells that bind self-antigen can range from redemption, transient relaxation in self-tolerance or restriction of the antibody response to the foreign pathogen.
Publisher: IEEE
Date: 08-2011
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2020
DOI: 10.1016/J.COI.2019.11.001
Abstract: Germinal centers (GCs) are well known for their important role in shaping the secondary B cell repertoire to generate antibodies capable of binding with high-affinity and specificity to foreign antigens. Somatic hypermutation of the Ig variable region genes in GC B cells represents a highly efficient mechanism for generating new antibody variants with increased antigen affinity. To be effective, however, this process needs to be intimately linked with equally efficient processes that positively select high-affinity clones for perpetuation in the GC and, ultimately, for differentiation into plasma cell and memory B cell effector populations. Just as important is the need for mechanisms of negative selection that remove GC B cell clones with unwanted specificities, particularly those that have gained reactivity with self-components. Here, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the various selective processes that occur within the GC and identify the major questions in this field that remain to be answered.
No related grants have been discovered for Angelica WY Lau.