The type of seeder cells determines the efficiency of germinal center reactions

We discuss the origin of two classes of germinal centers that have been observed during humoral immune responses: Some germinal centers develop very well and give rise to a large number of high affinity antibody producing plasma cells. Other germinal center reaction are very weak and the output production is practically absent. We propose an explanation for this nearly all-or-none behavior of germinal center reactions: The affinity of the seeder B-cells to the antigen is the critical parameter that determines the fate of the germinal center reaction. This hypothesis is verified in the framework of a space-time simulation of germinal center reactions.