In immunology, a naive B cell is a B cell that has not been exposed to an antigen. These are located in the tonsils, spleen, and primary lymphoid follicles in lymph nodes.
Once exposed to an antigen, the naive B cell either becomes a memory B cell or a plasma cell that secretes antibodies specific to the antigen that was originally bound. Plasma cells do not last long in the circulation; this is in contrast to memory cells that last for very long periods of time. Memory cells do not secrete antibodies until activated by their specific antigen. [1][2]
Naive B cells play a key role in predicting humoral responses to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in immunocompromised patients, specifically measuring naive B cell levels could help predict and improve vaccination outcomes.[3]
- ^ Airoldi I, Raffaghello L, Cocco C, et al. (January 2004). "Heterogeneous expression of interleukin-18 and its receptor in B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders deriving from naive, germinal center, and memory B lymphocytes". Clin. Cancer Res. 10 (1 Pt 1): 144–54. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-1026-3. PMID 14734463. S2CID 1413735.
- ^ Lang ML (Aug 2009). "How do natural killer T cells help B cells?". Expert Rev Vaccines. 8 (8): 1109–21. doi:10.1586/erv.09.56. PMC 2747240. PMID 19627191.
- ^ Herishanu, Yair; Avivi, Irit; Aharon, Adi; Shefer, Galia; Itchaki, Gilad; Bavli, Shani; Neiman, Dorit; Herzig, Eli; Faitovich, Asaf; Tepper, Ronit; Ziv-Baran, Tamar; Ronen, Ronit; Benjamini, Ofer; Paul, Sarah; Hagin, Dekel; Raanani, Pesach; Gover-Proaktor, Adi (2021-08-11). "Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia". medRxiv. doi:10.1101/2021.08.11.21261898.