Thread by @profshanecrotty

1/ Our new paper is out: Multifaceted Effects of Antigen Valency on B Cell Responses In Vivo.
bit.ly/34MMKrJ
There is lots of excitement about nanoparticle vaccine designs, and a general consensus that multivalency is a good thing for vaccines. @ljiresearch @ImmunityCP

2/ But, mechanistic immunological understand of the impact of valency has been limited, for a variety of reasons. Here, we completed a four years study of valency and and affinity on antigen-specific B cell responses in vivo.

3/ We found that antigen valency dictates the magnitude and composition of B cell responses. Antigen valency alters breadth of B cell affinities recruited. And valency appears to modulate both the magnitude and the clonal compositions of GC responses.

4/ Under low-valency immunization, stringent affinity selection precluded most low-affinity B cell clones from participating in germinal center and plasma cell responses.

5/ In contrast, high valency immunization enabled B cell clones encompassing a broad range of affinities to efficiently participate in GCs!

6/ Valency altered the composition of the responding antigen-specific B cell population. Thus, the quantity and quality of B cell responses can be tuned by altering antigen valency, with important implications for vaccine design.

7/ Another enjoyable collaboration with the Schief lab at @scrippsresearch !