Newswise — B cells are known to generate antibodies through two different responses—an "emergency response" and an "everything is okay, let’s prepare for the future response," says Mark Shlomchik, UPMC Professor and Distinguished Professor of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. However, the biological mechanisms coordinating these responses have remained a mystery for decades—until now. In a study published June 11 in Nature Immunology, Shlomchik and Rebecca Elsner, first author and research assistant professor in Shlomchik’s lab, share their discovery that a cytokine called interleukin-12 (IL-12) acts like a switch to direct which antibody response B cells will generate.
Both B-cell responses are biologically important because each has a different goal. The “emergency response” (extrafollicular response) is the body's immediate reaction to an infection, in which B cells generate an abundance of antibodies to try and gain control over the infection. In contrast, the “everything is okay response” (germinal center) is the body’s acknowledgment of an under-control infection where it creates a memory of the offending pathogen through memory B cells and pathogen-specific antibodies.
That memory will protect the body from any subsequent infection. Understanding what activates each response would enable investigators to design vaccines to elicit a desired immune reaction. For example, in the case of a severe infection, providing a vaccine tha.
