Checkpoint in B cell development discovered with possible implications on vaccine potency

In a paper published in the July 14 inaugural issue of the journal Science Immunology, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers report a new quality-control checkpoint function in developing B cells, cells that produce antibodies to protect the body from pathogens. This checkpoint in early pre-B cells—the predecessors to the mature B cells—has a benefit and a drawback. The benefit of the newly described quality-control checkpoint is producing antibodies that tend to have a tyrosine amino acid at specific sequences in the part of the antibody that clamps onto a pathogen. This makes it a more effective antibody, due to the hydrogen bonding ability of tyrosine with the pathogen. The pre-B cells that have other amino acids at that site are more likely to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis, as part of a quality-control process to eliminate ineffective pre-B cells before they can mature. This is a potential drawback because it...