Germinal centre-driven maturation of B cell response to mRNA vaccination.

ABSTRACT: Germinal centres (GC) are lymphoid structures in which B cells acquire affinity-enhancing somatic hypermutations (SHM), with surviving clones differentiating into memory B cells (MBCs) and long-lived bone marrow plasma cells^1-5 (BMPCs). SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination induces a persistent GC response that lasts for at least six months in humans^6-8. The fate of responding GC B cells as well as the functional consequences of such persistence remain unknown. Here, we detected SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-specific MBCs in 42 individuals who had received two doses of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 six month earlier. Spike-specific IgG-secreting BMPCs were detected in 9 out of 11 participants. Using a combined approach of sequencing the B cell receptors of responding blood pl

SUBMITTER: Kim W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9204750 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature