# Human Long-lived Plasma Cell Survival and the Role of the Bone Marrow Microniche

> **NIH NIH P01** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $384,925

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Project 3: Human Long-lived Plasma Cell Survival and the Role of the BM Microniche.
Long-lived plasma cells (LLPC) sustain protective antibody production for a lifetime and require the bone
marrow microniche to sustain survival. In our lab, we have definitively linked the long-lived viral serum antibody
source to the LLPC cellular compartment within the human bone marrow (BM) (CD19-CD38hiCD138+) and
developed in vitro BM microniche cultures that mimics the BM microenvironment to sustain PC survival. In this
application, we will study the role of the BM microniche on LLPC generation and maintenance by (1)
understanding the transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of BM LLPC, (2) understanding the LLPC fate
determinants especially the BM adaptation to a hypoxic BM microenvironment and (3) elucidating the essential
LLPC survival factors provided by the BM microniche. The significance of this work will be to understand the
role of the BM microniche in LLPC survival for life-long antibody protection.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9930040
- **Project number:** 5P01AI125180-05
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Frances Eun-Hyung Lee
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $384,925
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-06-25 → 2022-05-11

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9930040

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9930040, Human Long-lived Plasma Cell Survival and the Role of the Bone Marrow Microniche (5P01AI125180-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9930040. Licensed CC0.

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