About this Research Topic
B cells play a pivotal role in both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. The B cell population is made up of different B cell subsets depending on their developmental or proliferation status, location and function. B cells produce “natural” antibodies as part of innate immunity, but also generate antigen-specific immunity during adaptive immune responses. B cell development starts in the bone marrow from hematopoietic stem cells. Precursor B cells then enter the circulation as transitional B cells and further mature into naive B cells. After antigen recognition, naive B cells become activated and enter a germinal center reaction where antigen binding is further optimized by hypermutation of the immunoglobulin genes and affinity maturation. This leads to the generation of high affinity antibody-secreting and memory B cells. Antibody effector functions can be modified by isotype switching. However, germinal center independent antibody-secreting and memory B cells have been identified as well.
An increasing number of B cell subsets has been described in recent years in relation to different pathologies such as autoimmunity, immune deficiencies and cancer. Innovative technologies are now available that enable in-depth studies in B cells. This has resulted in a complex maze of human B cell subsets with different identifying markers and functions. Therefore, the goal of this Research Topic is to spark further interest in this area of research by highlighting the recent exciting studies of B cell subsets using these innovative technologies, and their role in health and disease.
The scope of this Research Topic is to collect the most recent data on the different human B cell subsets in terms of phenotype, function, development and B cell receptor repertoire. We welcome authors to submit Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Perspective and Commentary articles related to, but not limited to, the following aspects:
• Definition and classification of novel B cell subsets
• B cell development with a focus on B cell subsets
• Functions of specific B cell subsets in health and disease
• Deep phenotyping of B cell subsets
• B cell receptor repertoire analysis of B cell subsets
• Single-cell sequencing techniques of B cell subsets
• Bioinformatics tools to study B cell subsets
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
