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Plasma cells, also called plasma B cell
B cell

B cells are lymphocytes that play a large role in the humoral immunity . The principal functions of B cells are to make antibody against antigens, perform the role of Antigen Presenting Cells and eventually develop into memory B cells after activation by antigen interaction....
s or plasmocytes, are cells of the immune system
Immune system

An immune system is a collection of biological processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells....
 transported by the blood plasma
Blood plasma

Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood cells are suspended. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is composed of mostly water , and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, mineral ions, Hormone and carbon dioxide ....
 and the lymphatic system
Lymphatic system

The lymphatic system in vertebrates is a network of conduits that carry a clear fluid called lymph. It also includes the lymphoid tissue through which the lymph travels....
. Plasma cells are formed in the bone marrow
Bone marrow

Bone marrow is the flexible biological tissue found in the hollow interior of bones. In adults, marrow in large bones produces new blood cells....
 and abundant in the lymphatic liquid
Lymph

Lymph is the fluid that is formed as the interstitial fluid. It enters the lymph vessels by filtration. The lymph then travels to at least one lymph node before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes back with blood....
: they secrete large amounts of antibodies
Antibody

Antibodies are gamma globulin proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids of vertebrates, and are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacterium and viruses....
. They differentiate from B cells upon stimulation by CD4+ lymphocytes. The B cell acts as an antigen presenting cell (APC), consuming an offending pathogen
Pathogen

A pathogen , infectious agent, or germ, is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its Host .There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring...
. That pathogen gets taken up by the B cell by receptor mediated endocytosis, and broken down within these endosomes after fusion with lysosome
Lysosome

Lysosomes are organelles that contain digestive enzymes . Some biologists say they can only be found in animal cells, but there is new evidence that supports that they may exist in plant cells....
s releasing proteolytic enzymes onto the pathogen.






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Plasma cells, also called plasma B cell
B cell

B cells are lymphocytes that play a large role in the humoral immunity . The principal functions of B cells are to make antibody against antigens, perform the role of Antigen Presenting Cells and eventually develop into memory B cells after activation by antigen interaction....
s or plasmocytes, are cells of the immune system
Immune system

An immune system is a collection of biological processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells....
 transported by the blood plasma
Blood plasma

Blood plasma is the liquid component of blood, in which the blood cells are suspended. It makes up about 55% of total blood volume. It is composed of mostly water , and contains dissolved proteins, glucose, clotting factors, mineral ions, Hormone and carbon dioxide ....
 and the lymphatic system
Lymphatic system

The lymphatic system in vertebrates is a network of conduits that carry a clear fluid called lymph. It also includes the lymphoid tissue through which the lymph travels....
. Plasma cells are formed in the bone marrow
Bone marrow

Bone marrow is the flexible biological tissue found in the hollow interior of bones. In adults, marrow in large bones produces new blood cells....
 and abundant in the lymphatic liquid
Lymph

Lymph is the fluid that is formed as the interstitial fluid. It enters the lymph vessels by filtration. The lymph then travels to at least one lymph node before emptying ultimately into the right or the left subclavian vein, where it mixes back with blood....
: they secrete large amounts of antibodies
Antibody

Antibodies are gamma globulin proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids of vertebrates, and are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacterium and viruses....
. They differentiate from B cells upon stimulation by CD4+ lymphocytes. The B cell acts as an antigen presenting cell (APC), consuming an offending pathogen
Pathogen

A pathogen , infectious agent, or germ, is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its Host .There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring...
. That pathogen gets taken up by the B cell by receptor mediated endocytosis, and broken down within these endosomes after fusion with lysosome
Lysosome

Lysosomes are organelles that contain digestive enzymes . Some biologists say they can only be found in animal cells, but there is new evidence that supports that they may exist in plant cells....
s releasing proteolytic enzymes onto the pathogen. Once the enzymes break down the pathogen, pieces of the pathogen (which are now known as antigenic peptides) are loaded onto MHC II molecules, and presented on its extracellular surface. Once on the extracellular surface, the CD4+ T-helper lymphocyte will bind to the MHC II/Antigen molecule and cause activation of the B cell, which includes differentiation into a plasma cell, and subsequent generation of antibody against the consumed pathogen.

Overview

After dividing for around five days, mature B cells differentiate into either plasma B cells or memory B cell
Memory B cell

Memory B cells are a B cell sub-type that are formed following primary infection....
s. Plasma B cells originate in the bone marrow
Bone marrow

Bone marrow is the flexible biological tissue found in the hollow interior of bones. In adults, marrow in large bones produces new blood cells....
, then travel to the spleen
Spleen

The spleen is an organ found in all vertebrate animals. In humans, the spleen is located in the abdomen of the body, where it functions in the destruction of redundant red blood cells, and holds a reservoir of blood....
 or lymph nodes to secrete antibodies (approximately 3,000 per second). During the initial stages of an immune response the lifespan of plasma cells is very short, typically only 3-4 days. However, following the process of affinity maturation, plasma cells can survive for months to years and continue to secrete high levels of antibodies. Memory B cells tend to be longer-lived and can therefore respond quickly upon second exposure to an antigen.

The class of antibody that a plasma cell produces depends on signals, called cytokine
Cytokine

Cytokines are a category of signaling molecules that, like hormones and neurotransmitters, are used extensively in cell communication. They are proteins, peptides or glycoproteins....
s, from other immune system cells, such as macrophage
Macrophage

Macrophages are white blood cells within tissues, produced by the division of monocytes. Human macrophages are about 21 micrometres in diameter....
s and T helper cell
T helper cell

T helper cells are a sub-group of lymphocytes that play an important role in establishing and maximizing the capabilities of the immune system....
s. This process is called isotype-switching. For example, plasma cells will likely secrete IgG3 antibodies if they matured in the presence of the cytokine interferon-gamma
Interferon-gamma

Interferon-gamma is a dimerized soluble cytokine that is the only member of the type II class of interferons. This interferon was originally called macrophage-activating factor, a term now used to describe a larger family of proteins to which IFN-? belongs....
. Since B cell maturation also involves somatic hypermutation
Somatic hypermutation

Somatic hypermutation is a mechanism inside Cell that is part of the way the adaptive immune system to the new foreign elements which confront it ....
, these antibodies have a very high affinity for their antigen.

Microscopic anatomy

Plasma cells are large lymphocytes with a considerable nucleus
Cell nucleus

In cell biology, the nucleus , also sometimes referred to as the "control center", is a membrane-enclosed organelle found in all eukaryote cell ....
-to-cytoplasm
Cytoplasm

The cytoplasm is the part of a Cell that is enclosed within the plasma membrane. In eukaryote cells the cytoplasm contains organelles, such as mitochondrion, that are filled with liquid kept separate from the rest of the cytoplasm by biological membranes....
 ratio and a characteristic appearance on light microscopy. They have basophilic
Basophilic

Basophilic is a technical term used by Histology. It describes the microscopic appearance of cell s and Biological tissues, as seen down the microscope, after a histological section has been stained with a basic dye....
 cytoplasm and an eccentric nucleus with heterochromatin
Heterochromatin

Heterochromatin is a tightly packed form of DNA. Its major characteristic is that transcription is limited. As such, it is a means to control gene expression, through regulation of the transcription initiation....
 in a characteristic cartwheel
Cartwheel

A cartwheel may mean:*Cartwheel , an acrobatic maneuver*a part of a cart*Cartwheel Galaxy*List of hats and headgear#Women's, worn by women...
 or clock face arrangement. Their cytoplasm also contains a pale zone that on electron microscopy contains an extensive Golgi apparatus
Golgi apparatus

The Golgi apparatus is an organelle found in most eukaryote Cell . It was identified in 1898 by the Italian physician Camillo Golgi and was named after him....
 and centriole
Centriole

A centriole is a barrel-shaped organelle found in most animal eukaryotic Cell s, though absent in higher plants and most fungi. The walls of each centriole are usually composed of nine triplets of microtubules ....
s (). Abundant rough endoplasmic reticulum combined with a well-developed Golgi apparatus makes plasma cells well-suited for secreting immunoglobulins.

Surface antigens

Plasma cells express relatively few surface antigens, and do not express common pan-B cell markers, such as CD19
CD19

CD19 , is a human protein encoded by the gene.CD19 is expressed on follicular dendritic cells and B cells. In fact, it is present on B cells from earliest recognizable B-lineage cells during development to B-cell blasts but is lost on maturation to plasma cells....
 and CD20
CD20

CD20 is a non-glycosylated phosphoprotein expressed on the surface of all mature B-cells.Membrane-spanning 4-domains, subfamily A, member 1, also known as MS4A1, is a human gene....
. Instead, plasma cells are identified through flow cytometry
Flow cytometry

Flow cytometry is a technique for counting, examining, and sorting microscopic particles suspended in a stream of fluid. It allows simultaneous Parametric model analysis of the physical and/or chemical characteristics of single cells flowing through an optical and/or electronic detection apparatus....
 by their expression of CD38
CD38

CD38 is a glycoprotein found on the surface of many immune cells , including CD4+, CD8+, B and natural killer cells. CD38 also functions in cell adhesion, signal transduction and calcium signaling....
, CD45
CD45

In immunology, the CD45 antigen is a protein which was originally called leukocyte common antigen.The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the protein tyrosine phosphatase family....
, CD78
CD78

CD78 is a protein expressed on the surface of some immature and all mature B-cells. It is considered a pan-B cell antigen. Other names include Cdw78, Ba antigen, Leu21 and LO-panB-a....
, and the Interleukin-6 receptor
Interleukin-6 receptor

Interleukin 6 receptor also known as CD126 is a type I cytokine receptor.Interleukin 6 is a potent pleiotropic cytokine that regulates cell growth and differentiation and plays an important role in immune response....
.

CD38
CD38

CD38 is a glycoprotein found on the surface of many immune cells , including CD4+, CD8+, B and natural killer cells. CD38 also functions in cell adhesion, signal transduction and calcium signaling....
 and CD138 are expressed at high levels.

Role in disease

Plasmacytoma
Plasmacytoma

Plasmacytoma refers to a malignant plasma cell tumor growing within soft tissue. It is similar to multiple myeloma, but lacks the bone changes and resultant hypercalcemia seen in multiple myeloma....
, multiple myeloma
Multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells. These immune system cells are formed in bone marrow, are numerous in lymphatics and produce antibody....
 or Waldenström macroglobulinemia
Waldenström macroglobulinemia

Waldenstr?m's macroglobulinemia is cancer involving a subtype of white blood cells called lymphocytes. The main attributing antibody is IgM. It is a type of lymphoproliferative disease, and shares clinical characteristics with the indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas....
 are malignant neoplasms
Hematological malignancy

Hematological malignancies are the types of cancer that affect blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes. As the three are intimately connected through the immune system, a disease affecting one of the three will often affect the others as well: although lymphoma is technically a disease of the lymph nodes, it often spreads to the bone marrow, affe...
 ("cancer") of the plasma cells. Multiple myeloma is frequently identified because malignant plasma cells continue producing an antibody, which can be detected as a paraprotein
Paraprotein

A protein in the urine or blood, most often associated with benign Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance , where they remain "silent", and multiple myeloma....
.

Common variable immunodeficiency
Common variable immunodeficiency

Common variable immunodeficiency is a group of 20-30 primary immunodeficiency which have a common set of symptoms but with different underlying causes....
 is thought to be due to a problem in the differentiation
Cellular differentiation

In developmental biology, cellular differentiation is the process by which a less specialized cell becomes a more specialized cell type. Differentiation occurs numerous times during the development of a multicellular organism as the organism changes from a single zygote to a complex system of Tissue and cell types....
 from lymphocytes to plasma cells. The result is a low serum antibody level and risk of infections.

See also

  • White blood cell
    White blood cell

    White blood cells , or leukocytes , are cell of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials....
  • Leukocyte
  • Lymphocyte
    Lymphocyte

    A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.By their appearance under the light microscope, there are two broad categories of lymphocytes, namely the large granular lymphocytes and the small lymphocytes....
  • B cell
    B cell

    B cells are lymphocytes that play a large role in the humoral immunity . The principal functions of B cells are to make antibody against antigens, perform the role of Antigen Presenting Cells and eventually develop into memory B cells after activation by antigen interaction....


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