Germinal Centres

Abstract Germinal centres are lymphoid structures appearing after an antigenic stimulation inside lymph follicles. During this germinal centre reaction, B cells not only undergo clonal amplifications but also affinity maturation and class switching of their immunoglobulins. These events, occurring under the control of T cells and in the peculiar environments created by the follicular dendritic cells, lead B cells to mature into B memory cells or into precursors of plasma cells.