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Immunometabolism

B cells ferment sugar before they (affinity) mature

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Naive B cells activated during infection enter the germinal center (GC) reaction, in which high-affinity antibodies are generated. A new study has uncovered a distinct metabolic requirement for B cells poised to undergo the GC reaction, whose activation required lactate dehydrogenase A-dependent aerobic glycolysis.

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Fig. 1: LDHA-dependent aerobic glycolysis is required in antigen-activated B cells poised to undergo the GC reaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leeds Institute of Medical Research at St James’s, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Rebecca J. Brownlie & Ulf Klein

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  1. Rebecca J. Brownlie
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  2. Ulf Klein
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Correspondence to Ulf Klein.

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The authors declare no competing interest.

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Brownlie, R.J., Klein, U. B cells ferment sugar before they (affinity) mature. Nat Immunol 24, 1217–1219 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01536-8

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