T cell - B cell interactions are fundamental for many immune responses. The COVID-19 pandemic and the successful development of COVID-19 vaccines have highlighted the extreme value of T:B interactions for protective immunity. For example, the development of antibodies able to neutralize variants as diverse as Omicron—after not one or two, but after three mRNA immunizations with the same ancestral SARS-CoV-2 Spike—is a dramatic example of the importance of germinal centers in protective immunity, and the brilliance of the immune system in rapidly evolving T-dependent B cell responses capable of neutralizing extreme viral variants the T and B cells never previously encountered in the germinal centers.

There remains much to be learned about the critical importance of T:B interactions and germinal centers for vaccines and infectious diseases, but also much broader aspect of medicine. For example, T:B interactions are important in many autoimmune diseases, which will be a key component of this conference. Moreover, this conference will be held jointly with the Keystone Symposium on B Cells and Tertiary Lymphoid Structures: Emerging Targets in Cancer Therapeutics, with joint sessions covering T:B interactions in cancer.  This Keystone T:B conference originally started in 2016 as a gathering place for scientists to discuss shared and unique biology of T follicular helper (Tfh) cells and germinal centers in diverse contexts, and the conference is now in its 5th iteration.

Organizer, and Professor of Immunology in the Center of for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Dr. Shane Crotty, talks about why you should attend this meeting in the video below: