Avoiding the flood: how plasma cells constrain antibody secretion 

Plasma cells are the antibody factory or our immune system: they secrete vast quantities of highly specialised antibodies to counter an infection. IMP scientists in the lab of Meinrad Busslinger have uncovered one of the mechanisms underlying the regulation of antibody secretion: the protein Mist1 quells secretion to healthy levels and promotes the viability of plasma cells. Their study is now published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.