Our findings suggest that the high level of cross reactivity amongst the RA autoreactive B cells is the result of different antigen encounters, possibly at different sites and at different time points. This is in line with the notion that RA is initiated in one context, such as in mucosal organs, and thereafter target other sites, such as joints. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Translation of therapeutic vaccines for addiction, cancer or other chronic non-communicable diseases has been slow because only a small subset of immunized subjects achieved effective antibody levels. We hypothesize that individual variability in the number of naïve and early-activated hapten-specific B cells determines post-vaccination serum antibody levels and vaccine efficacy. Using a model vaccine against the highly abused prescription opioid oxycodone, the polyclonal B cell population specific for an oxycodone-based hapten (6OXY) was analyzed by flow cytometry paired with antigen-based magnetic enrichment. A higher frequency of 6OXY-specific B cells in either spleen biopsies or blood, before and after immunization, correlated to subsequent greater oxycodone-specific serum antibody titers and their efficacy in blocking oxycodone distribution to the brain and oxycodone-induced behavior in mice. The magnitude of 6OXY-specific B cell activation and vaccine efficacy was tightly correlated to the size of the CD4+ T cell population. The frequency of enriched 6OXY-specific B cells was consistent across various mouse tissues. These data provide novel evidence that variations in the frequency of naïve or early-activated vaccine-specific B and T cells can account for individual responses to vaccines and may predict the clinical efficacy of a therapeutic vaccine.
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