28 Oct 2025
1h 14m

Immune 97: Bystander B cells go bananas

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Immune

In episode 97 of Immune, Cindy Leifer and Steph Langel delve into two scientific papers. Steph presents a snippet on bacterial vaginosis (BV) and its impact on T-cells and soluble immune factors in the cervical vaginal tract, highlighting the increased susceptibility to HIV in women with BV due to altered T-cell function. Cindy then discusses a paper challenging the traditional understanding of B-cell somatic hypermutation, explaining how B-cells can generate new antibody specificities beyond their primary repertoire, potentially impacting immunity and autoimmunity. They discuss the experimental design used to demonstrate this phenomenon, and the implications for understanding immune responses to novel pathogens and tumors.

Outlines

Part 1: Introduction to Bacterial Vaginosis

Part 2: Somatic Hypermutation - Challenging the Textbook Definition

Part 3: Experimental Evidence for New Specificities

Part 4: Implications and Future Directions

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