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Abstract
The seemingly long half-life of antibody-producing plasma cells demonstrated by antigen-binding (ELISA type of) assays as compared with the short-livedness of neutralizing and protective antibody-producing plasma cells is explained here by the heterogeneity and multiple crossreactive antibodies detected by ELISA-type assays. While DNP-specific B cell frequencies are about 10-2 that of virus, serotype-specific B cell frequencies are about 10-5–10-6. Therefore, the seemingly long-lived multiple low-affinity crossreactive antibody-producing plasma cells represent a collective of little if any biological or evolutionary relevance. The plasma cells producing high-affinity protective, neutralizing antibodies (>109 M-1) in mice are short-lived and therefore continued antibody production is dependent on antigen exposure from within (immune complexes and persistence of infections) or from without by epidemiologically circulating infectious agents, or by revaccinations.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
R Zinkernagel was supported by the University of Zurich, Department of pathology. The author serves as a board member of Novartis which bears no relation to this manuscript. The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.