Biochemical coordination of plasma cell genesis

Antibody-secreting plasma cells are a central component of short- and long-term adaptive immunity. Yet, many fundamental questions about how activated B cells decide to yield functional plasma cells have yet to be answered. Likewise, the biochemical processes underpinning the ability of plasma cells to generate and secrete large numbers of antibodies, the capacity of some plasma cell to sustain antibody secretion, presumably without interruption, for decades, and the capacity of long-lived plasma cells to avoid apoptosis despite the high-energy demands associated with sustained robust antibody synthesis and secretion each remain mysterious processes. Our objective here is to review what is currently known about these processes with an emphasis on the earliest phases of plasma cell genesis. Along the way, we will work toward developing a model that ties the biochemistry of plasma cell function and survival. The chief idea imbedded in this model is that progress toward understanding plasma cell survival mechanisms may require increased focus on the unique cell autonomous processes inherent in plasma cell differentiation and function.