The role of antigen availability during B cell induction and its effect on sustained memory and antibody production after infection and vaccination - Lessons learned from the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic


 The importance of antibodies, particularly neutralising antibodies, has been known for decades. When examining the immune responses against a pathogen after a vaccination or infection it is easier to measure the levels of antigen specific antibodies than the T-cell response, but it does not give the whole picture. The levels of neutralising antibodies is harder to determine but gives a better indication of the quality of the antibody response. The induction of long-lived antibody secreting plasma cells are crucial for a persistent humoral immune response, which has been shown for example after vaccination with the vaccinia vaccine, where antibody levels have been shown to persist for decades.
 With the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic ravaging the world for the past years and the monumental effort in designing and releasing novel vaccines against the virus, much effort has been put in analysing the quantity, quality and persistence of antibody responses.
 The current review will focus on the plasma cells and discuss how long-lasting immune responses are induced, the importance of antigen availability and retention in evoking a long-lasting persisting antibody response.
 Since SARS-CoV-2 is a novel disease and many different vaccination strategies have been generated, focus will be put on persisting antibody responses against these different types of vaccines, which will give an insight into the generation of immunological memory and the persistence of antibody responses.