Vaccines work their magic by effectively creating immune cells that are long lived, often for over decades. These immune cells create both a protective barrier that can prevent or minimize re-infection and a memory that allows us to recognize an old invader like a virus and to kill it before it causes disease. The antibody in our blood that is the barrier is made by ‘long lived plasma cells’ and while the importance of these cells has always been know, how and when they are generated following a vaccination has remained a mystery. Until now. A research team has shown in real time how immune memory cells are stored in the bone marrow at around one single cell per hour for several weeks after immunization.
Click here for original story, Tracking the pathway to immunity, one cell at a time
Source: ScienceDaily