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  • Title: Affinity maturation without germinal centres in lymphotoxin-alpha-deficient mice.
    Author: Matsumoto M, Lo SF, Carruthers CJ, Min J, Mariathasan S, Huang G, Plas DR, Martin SM, Geha RS, Nahm MH, Chaplin DD.
    Journal: Nature; 1996 Aug 01; 382(6590):462-6. PubMed ID: 8684487.
    Abstract:
    Affinity maturation by somatic hypermutation is thought to occur within germinal centres. Mice deficient in lymphotoxin-alpha (LT alpha-/- mice) have no lymph nodes or Peyer's patches, and fail to form germinal centres in the spleen. We tested whether germinal centres are essential for maturation of antibody responses to T-cell-dependent antigens. LT alpha-/- mice immunized with low doses of (4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl-ovalbumin (NP-OVA) showed dramatically impaired production of high-affinity anti-NP IgG1. However, LT alpha-/- mice immunized with high doses of NP-OVA, even though they failed to produce germinal centres, manifested a high-affinity anti-NP IgG1 response similar to wild-type mice. Furthermore, when LT alpha-/- mice were multiply immunized with high doses of NP-OVA, the predominantly expressed anti-NP VH gene segment VH186.2 showed somatic mutations typical of affinity maturation. Thus, B-cell memory and affinity maturation are not absolutely dependent on the presence of germinal centres.
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