REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1674088
This article is part of the Research TopicDecoding the Spectrum of Plasma Cell Heterogeneity: Insights into Maturity and LongevityView all 4 articles
Circulating plasma cells: from basic mechanisms to clinical applications
Provisionally accepted
- The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China
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Circulating plasma cells (CPCs) represent an accessible subset of antibody-secreting cells that provide valuable insights into immune activation and regulation. This review presents the first comprehensive synthesis of CPC biology, with a particular focus on the mechanisms governing their generation under physiological conditions and the distinct pathways that drive their formation within tumor microenvironments. We further summarize the broader clinical relevance of CPCs as potential biomarkers across infections, autoimmune diseases, and plasma cell disorders. With the rapid advancement of liquid biopsy technologies, CPC detection has garnered increasing attention in clinical practice. Here, we evaluate current and emerging methods for CPC detection, highlighting their respective advantages and limitations. Finally, we discuss the translational potential of CPCs and outline future research directions to support more precise diagnosis and treatment strategies in CPC-associated conditions.
Keywords: Plasma Cells, circulating plasma cells, Plasma cell disorders, Multiple Myeloma, Flow Cytometry
Received: 27 Jul 2025; Accepted: 16 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Su, Yan, Xu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaojing Yan, yanxiaojing_pp@hotmail.com
Feng Xu, yezixufeng@163.com
Yan Zhang, 360076732@qq.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.