Understanding and Manipulating Viral Immunity: Antibody Immunodominance Enters Center Stage.

Understanding and Manipulating Viral Immunity: Antibody Immunodominance Enters Center Stage. Trends Immunol. 2018 May 19;: Authors: Angeletti D, Yewdell JW Abstract Adaptive immune responses against antigenically variable viruses and cellular pathogens are efficient in many cases, but largely limited to the infecting or immunizing strain. A major factor that limits immunity is immunodominance (ID), the hierarchical focusing of adaptive immune responses on a subset of antigenic determinants. While CD8+ T cell ID has been extensively studied, studies of basic mechanisms of B cell ID are limited, despite the importance of antibodies (Abs) for durable protection against pathogens. Here, we review recent progress in understanding the basic rules and mechanisms of B cell ID, compare B and CD8+ T cell ID, and outline challenges to overcoming ID to develop Ab-based 'universal' vaccines for influenza A and other highly variable viruses. PMID: 29789196 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Trends in Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Tags: Trends Immunol Source Type: research