Cutting Edge: Distinct B Cell Repertoires Characterize Patients with Mild and Severe COVID-19
Abstract
Protective immunity against COVID-19 likely depends on the production of SARS-CoV-2–specific plasma cells and memory B cells postinfection or postvaccination. Previous work has found that germinal center reactions are disrupted in severe COVID-19. This may adversely affect long-term immunity against reinfection. Consistent with an extrafollicular B cell response, patients with severe COVID-19 have elevated frequencies of clonally expanded, class-switched, unmutated plasmablasts. However, it is unclear whether B cell populations in individuals with mild COVID-19 are similarly skewed. In this study, we use single-cell RNA sequencing of B cells to show that in contrast to patients with severe COVID-19, subjects with mildly symptomatic COVID-19 have B cell repertoires enriched for clonally diverse, somatically hypermutated memory B cells ∼30 d after the onset of symptoms. This provides evidence that B cell responses are less disrupted in mild COVID-19 and result in the production of memory B cells.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 15, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.4049/jimmunol.2100135
Entities
People
- Alexander Bukreyev
- Avraham Unterman
- Charles S Dela Cruz
- David A. Hafler
- Hiromitsu Asashima
- Kenneth B. Hoehn
- Naftali Kaminski
- Palani Ramanathan
- Steven H Kleinstein
- Stuart C. Sealfon
- Tomokazu Sumida
Organizations
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
- University of Texas Medical Branch
- Yale School of Medicine
- Yale University