More sustainable immune response through B memory cells – healing practice

Pathogens: immune cells against stubborn viruses

Virus infections are not only common in pandemic times. Not all viruses that affect humans actually make us sick. The immune system often reacts quickly and successfully fights the intruders. However, some pathogens can overrun the immune system. Researchers are now reporting what can help against stubborn viruses.

As in a current one Message The University of Basel explains that viruses such as HIV or the pathogen causing hepatitis C can overrun the immune system. One approach to developing vaccines against such chronic infections has so far targeted the so-called B memory cells of the immune system. Researchers at the University of Basel have now discovered that these cells need the help of other memory cells in order to effectively defend the organism against chronic viruses.

Defense against pathogens

A huge arsenal of immune cells defends the organism against pathogens. In the event of a virus infection, B cells produce suitable antibodies that inactivate the pathogen. Some of these B cells die again after infection or vaccination, but some B cells remain in the body as memory cells so that the correct antibodies can be produced more quickly if the same pathogen is re-infected. Vaccines target, among other things, the formation of these B memory cells.

But viruses such as HIV or the hepatitis C virus overrun the defense of the B memory cells – a hurdle for the development of efficient vaccines. In order to overcome this obstacle, the scientists led by Prof. Dr. Daniel Pinschewer from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel examines the interaction of immune cells in chronic viral infections.

“One problem is that the B memory cells fall into a kind of panic reaction in view of the constant presence of the pathogen and the associated inflammation,” explains Pinschewer. From a program of reproduction and maturation, they all switch to the mode of antibody production and quickly perish. The research team is now reporting on possible remedies for this problem in the specialist journal “PNAS“.

Prevent panic reaction

For their experiments, the researchers studied the infection of mice with a mouse virus called lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), which causes chronic infection in animals. They discovered that the B memory cells need the help of other immune cells for a sustainable reaction to the viruses: namely T helper memory cells, the formation of which can also be triggered by suitable vaccination strategies.

If the scientists stimulated the formation of suitable T helper memory cells in the test animals prior to the LCMV infection, the latter prevented the panic reaction of the B memory cells after the infection.

“Instead of wasting the entire stock of B-cells in the unsuccessful fight against the virus, thanks to the T-helper memory cells, there is a reserve of B-cells that continue to multiply and mature and maintain the defense against the virus”, explains Dr. Kerstin Narr, the study’s lead author.

So far, the role of T helper memory cells in vaccination against chronic viruses has not been sufficiently taken into account. “The knowledge that these cells can be used to promote a more sustained immune response using B memory cells is of direct relevance to strategies for developing new vaccines against HIV and hepatitis C,” said Pinschewer. (ad)