The key elements for long-lived antibody-mediated immunity—memory B cells and plasmablasts—are generated in germinal centers, where B cells expressing high-affinity antigen receptors are selected for survival and proliferation in a process called affinity maturation. Unexpectedly, Khalil et al. (see the Perspective by Bannard and Cyster) found that, in contrast to naïve B cells and B cells outside the germinal center, proximal signaling events are impaired downstream of the antigen receptor in mouse germinal center B cells.
A. M. Khalil, J. C. Cambier, M. J. Shlomchik, B cell receptor signal transduction in the GC is short-circuited by high phosphatase activity. Science 336, 1178–1181 (2012). [Abstract] [Full Text]
O. M. Bannard, J. G. Cyster, When less signaling is more. Science 336, 1120–1121 (2012). [Abstract] [Full Text]
