Within germinal centers, B cells oscillate between the dark zone and light zone, where they compete for T follicular helper cell assistance to optimize their antibody affinity. The T FH help influences c-Myc levels, affecting B cell division rates in the dark zone, where somatic hypermutation occurs. High-affinity B cells are hypothesized to benefit from less mutation during rapid division, suggesting a balance between mutation rates and affinity enhancement that allows for significant increases in antibody affinity despite potential downsides of random mutations.
"Current understanding suggests that somatic hypermutation (SHM) continues at a constant rate per division, so that the highest-affinity B cells accumulate more mutations than their lower affinity counterparts."
"GC responses can produce 100-fold increases in serum antibody affinity within a short period of time, challenging the notion that affinity maturation is inherently wasteful with diminishing returns for higher-affinity cells."
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