Gene Encoded B Cell Recognition of Viruses

Humoral immunity is seeded by affinity between the B cell receptor (BCR) and cognate antigen. While the BCR is functionally adaptive, in that it displays diverse antigen engagement solutions, we co-define its receptor activity in humans as an ‘innate-like’. Here, Daniel Lingwood of Harvard Medical School finds that antibody gene-hardwired affinity for antigen can provide a reproducible template for expanding broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against influenza virus, a pathogen that continues to ‘resist’ conventional vaccine approaches. He will further discuss how this gene-encoded bnAb output may have evolved and how it is regulated by key features within the antibody gene sequence.