Long-lasting immune memory is essential for protecting the body against recurring infections and sustaining the effectiveness of vaccines over time. A key component of this durable immunity is long-lived plasma cells (LLPCs), which can survive for years or even decades. In multiple myeloma (MM), malignant plasma cells exploit many of the same survival cues as LLPCs. These survival cues are provided by the bone marrow niche (BMN) where the cells reside, but how the cells and tissues within the BMN interact to sustain LLPCs or fuel MM remains poorly defined.

To unravel this mystery, Dr. Zhixin Jing is integrating multiplex immunofluorescence imaging, genetic mouse models, and systems biology approaches. He will create a map of LLPC BMNs, identify key cell-tissue interactions, and determine how BMNs are altered during MM progression. These insights could guide strategies to enhance the durability of vaccine-induced antibody responses and inform new approaches to disrupt tumor-supportive niches in MM. “The result of this work will deepen our understanding of immunological memory for improving durability of vaccine-induced antibody responses and inform novel niche-targeting strategies for controlling MM progression and/or enhancing currently available therapies,” he states.

Dr. Jing is a B-cell biologist with extensive experience in humoral immunity and vaccine-induced antibody responses. In his graduate work, he challenged long-standing assumptions about BM PCs, showing that they are motile and dynamic rather than static. He also developed a genetic model to probe LLPC survival mechanisms. Now as a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Jing is continuing his passion for understanding LLPC survival niches in the BM, ultimately guiding the development of next-generation vaccines that elicit long-lasting protective immunity.

Sponsor

Ronald Germain, MD, PhD

Research Focus

Multiple myeloma, immunological memory, bone marrow niche

Projects and Grants

Spatial dissection of bone marrow niches supporting plasma cell longevity