Continued Virus-Specific Antibody-Secreting Cell Production, Avidity Maturation and B Cell Evolution in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the development and sustainability of the virus-specific protective immune response to infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains incomplete with respect to the appearance and disappearance of virus-specific antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) in circulation. Therefore, we performed cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma collected from 55 hospitalized patients up to 4 months after onset of COVID-19 symptoms. Spike (S)- and nucleocapsid (N)-specific IgM and IgG ASCs appeared within 2 weeks accompanied by flow cytometry increases in double negative plasmablasts consistent with a rapid extrafollicular B cell response. Total and virus-specific IgM and IgG ASCs peaked at 3-4 weeks and were sti

SUBMITTER: Bartlett ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9063170 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature