Extrafollicular B cell responses correlate with neutralizing antibodies and morbidity in COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: A wide spectrum of clinical manifestations has become a hallmark of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) COVID-19 pandemic, although the immunological underpinnings of diverse disease outcomes remain to be defined. We performed detailed characterization of B cell responses through high-dimensional flow cytometry to reveal substantial heterogeneity in both effector and immature populations. More notably, critically ill patients displayed hallmarks of extrafollicular B cell activation and shared B cell repertoire features previously described in autoimmune settings. Extrafollicular activation correlated strongly with large antibody-secreting cell expansion and early production of high concentrations of SARS-CoV-2-specific neutralizing antibodies. Yet, these patien

SUBMITTER: Woodruff MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7739702 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature