What is it about?
"IgM memory" B cells are thought to be important because they react to bacterial polysaccharides and don't need so much help from other cells. So in the beginnings of a bacterial infection they help a lot in defence. Older people suffer more from bacterial infections than younger adults. Here we show that the "IgM memory" B cell population that we generally look at is actually made up of a few different kinds of cells. Small variations in the level of the antibody on the surface. The relative proportions of these groups changes a lot with age. Understanding what these different groups do will help us understand how to better protect older people from bacterial infections.
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Why is it important?
Older people are more prone to bacterial infections, and have greater morbidity. The immune system is complex, with a large number of different cells and molecules acting in balance to protect us. This paper shows we need to look closely at "IgM memory" B cells as the culprits responsible for poor bacterial defences in ageing.
Perspectives
20 years ago I showed that IgM B cells in the marginal zone of the spleen had mutations in their Ig genes which meant they were not, as had previously been thought, naive B cells. Rather they were cells that had reacted to foreign antigen in some way. Since then we have learned that these "IgM memory" B cells are T-independent responders important in bacterial infections and this paper has shown that not only does the population as a whole decrease with age, but subsets of cells within this population change significantly with age.
Professor Deborah K Dunn-Walters
King's College London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Age-related aspects of human IgM+
B cell heterogeneity, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, July 2015, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/nyas.12823.
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