Cell-mediated immunity

Abstract

This chapter focuses on antibody-mediated immunity to influenza virus, a highly effective response that prevents and reduces initial virus spread, contributes to clearance of established infections and provides long-lasting protective immune memory against reinfections. Antibody responses can last for decades in humans and for life in experimental animals. However, neutralizing antibodies exert strong immune pressure on influenza virus to mutate and reassort continuously and thus to escape the response, leaving individuals only partially protected against the next season's influenza strain. Multiple B-cell subsets, including some that provide cross-protection, contribute to the complex respo..