Arrested Differentiation, the Self-Renewing Memory Lymphocyte, and Vaccination

Vaccination for persistent viral or bacterial infections must program the immune system for a lifelong need to generate antigen-specific effector lymphocytes. How the immune system does this is not known, but recent studies have shown that a subset of B lymphocytes, the germinal center B cell, is ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2001-07, Vol.293 (5528), p.248-250
Main Authors: Fearon, Douglas T., Manders, Peter, Wagner, Simon D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antigens
B lymphocytes
B-Lymphocytes - immunology
Bacteria
Bcl-6 protein
Biological and medical sciences
Cell Differentiation
Cells
Communicable Diseases
DNA-Binding Proteins - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fundamental immunology
Humans
Immune system
Immunity
Immunobiology
Immunologic Memory
Individualized Instruction
Infections
Leukopoiesis
Lymphocytes
Lymphocytes - cytology
Lymphocytes - immunology
Lymphoid cells: ontogeny, maturation, markers, receptors, circulation and recirculation
Lymphoid tissue
Memory
Plasma cells
Proto-Oncogene Proteins - physiology
Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-6
Receptors, Antigen - immunology
Stem Cells
T lymphocytes
T-Lymphocytes - immunology
Transcription Factors - physiology
Vaccination
Viewpoints
Viruses
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Summary:Vaccination for persistent viral or bacterial infections must program the immune system for a lifelong need to generate antigen-specific effector lymphocytes. How the immune system does this is not known, but recent studies have shown that a subset of B lymphocytes, the germinal center B cell, is capable of self-renewal because it expresses a transcriptional repressor, BCL6, that blocks terminal differentiation. If a similar mechanism for arresting differentiation exists for long-lived, antigen-selected lymphocytes, a stem cell-like capacity for self-renewal could be the basis for the continual generation of effector lymphocytes from the memory pool. Understanding how to regulate the terminal differentiation of lymphocytes will improve immunotherapeutic approaches for chronic infectious diseases and cancer.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1062589