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T Cells and B Cells Go to CollegeAwake!—1990 | November 22
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In the lymph nodes, a mature B cell, activated by helper T cells and related antigen, “proliferates and differentiates to form plasma cells that secrete identical antibodies with a single specificity at a rate of about 10,000 molecules per cell per second.”—Immunology.
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T Cells and B Cells Go to CollegeAwake!—1990 | November 22
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Many of them become plasma cells. Again, there must be the right receptors on the helper T cells to join up with the B cells and cause them to produce plasma cells. It is those plasma cells that start churning out thousands of antibodies a second.
Since each plasma cell makes only one kind of antibody, with a receptor specific for only one disease antigen, soon billions are on the front lines homing in on the antigens of one specific disease.
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