{"doi":"10.4049/jimmunol.1000911","title":"Secondary Immunization Generates Clonally Related Antigen-Specific Plasma Cells and Memory B Cells","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Rechallenge with T cell-dependent Ags induces memory B cells to re-enter germinal centers (GCs) and undergo further expansion and differentiation into plasma cells (PCs) and secondary memory B cells. It is currently not known whether the expanded population of memory B cells and PCs generated in secondary GCs are clonally related, nor has the extent of proliferation and somatic hypermutation of their precursors been delineated. In this study, after secondary tetanus toxoid (TT) immunization, TT-specific PCs increased 17- to 80-fold on days 6–7, whereas TT-specific memory B cells peaked (delayed) on day 14 with a 2- to 22-fold increase. Molecular analyses of VHDJH rearrangements of individual cells revealed no major differences of gene usage and CDR3 length between TT-specific PCs and memory B cells, and both contained extensive evidence of somatic hypermutation with a pattern consistent with GC reactions. This analysis identified clonally related TT-specific memory B cells and PCs. Within clusters of clonally related cells, sequences shared a number of mutations but also could contain additional base pair changes. The data indicate that although following secondary immunization PCs can derive from memory B cells without further somatic hypermutation, in some circumstances, likely within GC reactions, asymmetric mutation can occur. These results suggest that after the fate decision to differentiate into secondary memory B cells or PCs, some committed precursors continue to proliferate and mutate their VH genes.</jats:p>","journal":"The Journal of Immunology","year":2010,"id":598397,"datarank":0.6610078870896381,"base_score":4.406719247264253,"endowment":4.406719247264253,"self_citation_contribution":0.6610078870896381,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.6610078870896381,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":81,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1533287,"name":"Claudia Giesecke","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1533288,"name":"Henrik E Mei","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1533289,"name":"Karin Reiter","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1533290,"name":"Capucine Daridon","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1533291,"name":"Peter E Lipsky","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":90329,"name":"Thomas Dörner","orcid":"0000-0002-6478-7725","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1533286,"name":"Daniela Frölich","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Secondary Immunization Generates Clonally Related Antigen-Specific Plasma Cells and Memory B Cells","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title>\n               <jats:p>Rechallenge with T cell-dependent Ags induces memory B cells to re-enter germinal centers (GCs) and undergo further expansion and differentiation into plasma cells (PCs) and secondary memory B cells. It is currently not known whether the expanded population of memory B cells and PCs generated in secondary GCs are clonally related, nor has the extent of proliferation and somatic hypermutation of their precursors been delineated. In this study, after secondary tetanus toxoid (TT) immunization, TT-specific PCs increased 17- to 80-fold on days 6–7, whereas TT-specific memory B cells peaked (delayed) on day 14 with a 2- to 22-fold increase. Molecular analyses of VHDJH rearrangements of individual cells revealed no major differences of gene usage and CDR3 length between TT-specific PCs and memory B cells, and both contained extensive evidence of somatic hypermutation with a pattern consistent with GC reactions. This analysis identified clonally related TT-specific memory B cells and PCs. Within clusters of clonally related cells, sequences shared a number of mutations but also could contain additional base pair changes. The data indicate that although following secondary immunization PCs can derive from memory B cells without further somatic hypermutation, in some circumstances, likely within GC reactions, asymmetric mutation can occur. These results suggest that after the fate decision to differentiate into secondary memory B cells or PCs, some committed precursors continue to proliferate and mutate their VH genes.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":4.406719247264253,"endowment":4.406719247264253,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"20693426","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W1632559253","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":1.0792,"citation_percentile":0.75136518,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2012,"count":3},{"year":2013,"count":3},{"year":2014,"count":12},{"year":2015,"count":9},{"year":2016,"count":5},{"year":2017,"count":6},{"year":2018,"count":6},{"year":2019,"count":9},{"year":2020,"count":1},{"year":2021,"count":8},{"year":2022,"count":4},{"year":2023,"count":7},{"year":2024,"count":2},{"year":2025,"count":1}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"https://academic.oup.com/pages/standard-publication-reuse-rights","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://academic.oup.com/jimmunol/article-pdf/185/5/3103/61611663/1000911.pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.1000911","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20693426","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["T-cell and B-cell Immunology","Immunotherapy and Immune Responses","Immune Cell Function and Interaction","Adult","B-Lymphocyte Subsets","Base Pairing","Cell Differentiation","Clone Cells","Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte","Female","Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte","Humans","Immunization, Secondary","Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains","Immunoglobulin Variable Region","Immunologic Memory","Male","Plasma Cells"],"mesh_terms":["Adult","Cell Differentiation","Clone Cells","Female","Humans","Immunization, Secondary","Immunoglobulin Variable Region","Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains","Immunologic Memory","Male","Plasma Cells","Gene Rearrangement, B-Lymphocyte","B-Lymphocyte Subsets","Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte","Base Pairing"],"keywords":["Somatic hypermutation","Germinal center","Biology","Memory B cell","Somatic cell","B cell","Naive B cell","Antigen","Affinity maturation","Population","Immunology","Molecular biology","Antibody","Gene","Genetics","Antigen-presenting cell","T cell","Immune system","Medicine"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-28T15:37:58.486161Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}