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Affinity maturation of antibodies during immune responses is achieved by multiple rounds of somatic hypermutation and subsequent preferential selection of those B cells that express B cell receptors with improved binding characteristics for…

A central feature of vertebrate immune response is affinity maturation, wherein antibody-producing B cells undergo evolutionary selection in microanatomical structures called germinal centers, which form in secondary lymphoid organs upon…

B cells and the antibodies they produce are vital to health and survival, motivating research on the details of the mutational and evolutionary processes in the germinal centers (GC) from which mature B cells arise. It is known that B cells…

B cells signaling in response to antigen is proportional to antigen affinity, a process known as affinity discrimination. Recent research suggests that B cells can acquire antigen in membrane-bound form on the surface of antigen-presenting…

The population dynamics theory of B cells in a typical germinal center could play an important role in revealing how affinity maturation is achieved. However, the existing models encountered some conflicts with experiments. To resolve these…

Affinity Maturation (AM) is the process through which the immune system is able to develop potent antibodies against new pathogens it encounters, and is at the base of the efficacy of vaccines. At its core AM is analogous to a Darwinian…

The mammalian adaptive immune system has evolved over millions of years to become an incredibly effective defense against foreign antigens. The adaptive immune system's humoral response creates plasma B cells and memory B cells, each with…

B cells receptor (BCR) signaling in response to membrane-bound antigen increases with antigen affinity, a process known as affinity discrimination. We use computational modeling to show that B cell affinity discrimination requires that…

We analyze the interactions between division, mutation and selection in a simplified evolutionary model, assuming that the population observed can be classified into fitness levels. The construction of our mathematical framework is…

Immune cells learn about their antigenic targets using tactile sense: during recognition, a highly organized yet dynamic motif, named immunological synapse, forms between immune cells and antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Via synapses,…

Cell-cell adhesion is established by specific binding of receptor and ligand proteins. The adhesion bonds attract each other and often aggregate into large clusters that are central to many biological processes. One possible origin of…

In order to target threatening pathogens, the adaptive immune system performs a continuous reorganization of its lymphocyte repertoire. Following an immune challenge, the B cell repertoire can evolve cells of increased specificity for the…

We discuss the origin of two classes of germinal centers that have been observed during humoral immune responses: Some germinal centers develop very well and give rise to a large number of high affinity antibody producing plasma cells.…

Mechanisms of immunity, and of the host-pathogen interactions in general are among the most fundamental problems of medicine, ecology, and evolution studies. Here, we present a microscopic, protein-level, sequence-based model of immune…

The adaptive immune system constantly remodels its lymphocyte repertoire for better protection against future pathogens. Its ability to improve antigen recognition on the fly relies on somatic mutation and selective expansion of B…

B cells encounter antigen over a wide affinity range. The strength of B cell signaling in response to antigen increases with affinity, a process known as "affinity discrimination". In this work, we use a computational simulation of B cell…

One of the key phenomena in the adaptive immune response to infection and immunization is affinity maturation, during which antibody genes are mutated and selected, typically resulting in a substantial increase in binding affinity to the…

Gap junctions are channels in cell membranes allowing ions to pass directly between cells. They connect cells throughout the body, including heart myocytes, neurons, and astrocytes. Propagation mediated by gap junctions can be passive or…

The specific morphology of germinal centers is analyzed in the context of the optimization of the humoral immune response. The relevance of dark and light zones for the affinity maturation process is investigated in the framework of a…

During germinal center reactions the appearance of two specific zones is observed: the dark and the light zone. Up to now, the origin and function of these zones are poorly understood. In the framework of a stochastic and discrete model…