Naive B cell explained

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]

Notes and References

1. Airoldi I, Raffaghello L, Cocco C, etal . 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 . January 2004 . 14734463 . 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-1026-3 . 1413735 .
2. Lang ML . How do natural killer T cells help B cells? . Expert Rev Vaccines . 8 . 8 . 1109–21 . Aug 2009 . 19627191 . 2747240 . 10.1586/erv.09.56 .
3. 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 . 2021-08-11 . Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in patients with B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia . medRxiv . 10.1101/2021.08.11.21261898 . Raanani . Pesach . Gover-Proaktor . Adi.