How germinal centers make stronger antibodies ^{CEFR A2}

Researchers engineered mice whose B cells all began with the same unmutated antibody sequence and then gave the mice an immunization to form germinal centers. They watched the B cells as they changed and competed, using advanced microscopes, a laser method to mark cells, and DNA sequencing to study thousands of cells from many centers.

At each germinal center, some cell families grew and others disappeared, and sometimes one family took over in a clonal burst. When selection was repeated across many centers, antibodies became steadily stronger. The immune process favored helpful mutations and removed weak B cells quickly. These findings change ideas about germinal centers and may help vaccine design.