During clonal selection, what do most B cells become?

During clonal selection, most B cells differentiate into plasma cells. This process occurs after B cells encounter their specific antigen and become activated. Clonal selection ensures that only the B cells with receptors specific to the pathogens proliferate and expand.

Once activated, these B cells undergo clonal expansion and then differentiate primarily into plasma cells, which are responsible for producing and secreting large quantities of antibodies. These antibodies neutralize pathogens and facilitate their removal from the body.

While some of the activated B cells do differentiate into memory B cells, which provide long-term immunity by remaining in the body to respond more efficiently upon future exposures to the same antigen, the predominant outcome of clonal selection is the generation of plasma cells. Helper T cells and cytotoxic T cells do not derive from B cells; they are part of the T cell lineage, which operates through different mechanisms in the immune response.