Rao et al. demonstrate that convergent somatic hypermutations in the light chain, enriched within a sarbecovirus-specific public antibody clonotype, drive affinity maturation. This antibody targets a ...

Initial specificity is thought to be required for somatic hypermutation (SHM)-driven antibody evolution. Zuo, Gautam, et al. demonstrate that non-cognate B cells can enter germinal centers, undergo SHM, and acquire new antigen specificities, highlighting the capacity of antibodies to generate new recognition through SHM.

The human humoral immune response is mediated by antibodies, which are secreted in response to antigen exposure and are critical to protect against infection (1–3). Antibodies display enormous diversi...

B cells that give rise to neutralizing antibody responses can be extremely rare in the naive B cell repertoire. Madden et al. show that delivery strategy and adjuvant selection affect the recruitment ...

H5N1 strain-specific antibodies are higher in older individuals and correlate more with birth year than with age, suggesting that younger individuals are potentially more likely to benefit from H5N1 v...

Public antibodies that recognize conserved epitopes are critical for vaccine development, and identifying somatic hypermutations (SHMs) that enhance antigen affinity in these public responses is key t...

Antibodies targeting the influenza hemagglutinin from potentially pandemic H5Nx viruses can be isolated from naïve individuals.