B cells

Our bodies have cells that will help us to heal naturally from multiple viruses. There are multiple instances where multiple viruses attack your body, and for such a situation, we have cells that help the body. Such cells are known as B cells that produce antibodies and keep your health in good condition. When any virus, parasite, or bacteria invades your body, your body ultimately sets the alarm off. This starts a chain reaction in your body, and multiple cells in your immune system start to work in that direction. 

With the help of such cells, the invader in your body is destroyed. One such cell is the B cell. When the body is required to make a sophisticated attack, it goes to B cells and T cells. 

What are B cells?

• NB lymphocytes or B cells belong to the category of white blood cells that help to protect your body from multiple viruses and infection. 
• Without such cells, the immune system of your body will become quite ineffective and won’t be capable enough to fight several bacteria and viruses. 
• Apart from this, your body will also lack the function of “memory antibody”, which is quite important for the body when it is trying to recover from an infection.

What are B cells in the human body?

• In the human body, B cells are an important part of the humoral immunity component that plays an important role in immunity, and each B cell contains a nucleus. 
• White blood cells are made of 25% of lymphocytes. Among those, 10% of total lymphocytes are B cells. 
• Such cells do both originate and mature in bone marrow only. Bone marrow, in layman’s terms, is soft fatty tissue inside the bones.

An important function of B cells

• The most important function of B cells is to produce antibodies, also known to us as Y-shaped chromosomes. 
• It is made by the immune system of your body, so that any foreign element cannot harm your body. 
• They do this with the help of B cell receptors that bind to a specific protein. Such receptors are present on the surface of B cells and are abbreviated as BCRs.
• After such bills bind themselves to the protein or antigen, some might say they release the antibody that sticks with the antigen and prevent your body from any harm that might occur in the presence of any foreign element. 
• After this, B cells secrete a chemical known as cytokines that attract other immune cells. 
• Then they present the antigen to T cells, and they are recognized with the help of T cell receptors that help in destroying the antigens.

Process of B cells development and activation

• The maturation of B cells takes place in the bone marrow and spleen after they get mature; they remain in the peripheral tissues before they encounter any antigen. After their encounter with the antigen, B cells get activated. 
• For their activation process to get successful, they require two distinct signals. This results in B cell differentiation that is further categorised into plasma cells or memory B cells. 
• Among the two signals, the first one occurs when an antigen binds to B cell receptors. 
• The second signal occurs with the help of a thymus-independent or thymus-dependent mechanism. 
• In most of these cases, B cells respond to the antigens that require the interaction of the B cell with the T cell or T helper cells. 
• Apart from this, there is also an alternative method of activation that is with the help of a few antigens that will directly provide the second activation signal to the B cell. 
• Such antigens comprise various components of bacterial cell walls

Antigen or Agglutinogen

•  Foreign substances like protein or polysaccharide which stimulate the production of antibodies are called antigen.
•  Toxin of pathogen, white of egg, feathers, fruit, meat, drug induces the immune system to produce antibodies.
•  Sites over the antigens that are recognized by antibodies and receptors found on B and T cells are called antigen determinants/epitopes. An antigen may have one to several types of antigen determinants.
• Epitopes can bind specifically to antigen binding sites (paratope) of the antibody molecule and T cell receptors. Epitopes are the smallest unit of antigenicity.

Antibody or Immunoglobulin or Igs

•  It is a complex glycoprotein secreted by B-Lymphocytes in response to an antigen. It is also called Agglutinin.
•  These are complex glycoprotein molecules made up of 4 polypeptide chains, two light and two heavy chains.
•  These two chains are held together by a disulphide bond in the shape of Y–molecule.
•  Two top tips of this molecule bind with antigen like lock and key and make antigen-antibody complex.

Conclusion

B cells play an important part in the immune system of your body as B cells belong to the adaptive or acquired immunity system of your body. Such cells take a lot of time to generate as well as they are created from their experience, but on the same front, they live longer than innate cells. Adaptive cells such as B cells remember their first encounter with foreign elements and fight them when such elements next invade the body. It is on the same principles that vaccines work.