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Kaneko N, Kuo HH, Boucau J, Farmer JR, Allard-Chamard H, Mahajan VS, Piechocka-Trocha A, Lefteri K, Osborn M, Bals J, Bartsch YC, Bonheur N, Caradonna TM, Chevalier J, Chowdhury F, Diefenbach TJ, Einkauf K, Fallon J, Feldman J, Finn KK, Garcia-Broncano P, Hartana CA, Hauser BM, Jiang C, Kaplonek P, Karpell M, Koscher EC, Lian X, Liu H, Liu J, Ly NL, Michell AR, Rassadkina Y, Seiger K, Sessa L, Shin S, Singh N, Sun W, Sun X, Ticheli HJ, Waring MT, Zhu AL, Alter G, Li JZ, Lingwood D, Schmidt AG, Lichterfeld M, Walker BD, Yu XG, Padera RF, Pillai S. Loss of Bcl-6-Expressing T Follicular Helper Cells and Germinal Centers in COVID-19. Cell 2020; 183:143-157.e13. [PMID: 32877699 PMCID: PMC7437499 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 498] [Impact Index Per Article: 124.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Revised: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Humoral responses in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are often of limited durability, as seen with other human coronavirus epidemics. To address the underlying etiology, we examined post mortem thoracic lymph nodes and spleens in acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and observed the absence of germinal centers and a striking reduction in Bcl-6+ germinal center B cells but preservation of AID+ B cells. Absence of germinal centers correlated with an early specific block in Bcl-6+ TFH cell differentiation together with an increase in T-bet+ TH1 cells and aberrant extra-follicular TNF-α accumulation. Parallel peripheral blood studies revealed loss of transitional and follicular B cells in severe disease and accumulation of SARS-CoV-2-specific "disease-related" B cell populations. These data identify defective Bcl-6+ TFH cell generation and dysregulated humoral immune induction early in COVID-19 disease, providing a mechanistic explanation for the limited durability of antibody responses in coronavirus infections, and suggest that achieving herd immunity through natural infection may be difficult.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoki Kaneko
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hsiao-Hsuan Kuo
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Julie Boucau
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jocelyn R Farmer
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hugues Allard-Chamard
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Division of Rheumatology, Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé de l'Université de Sherbrooke et Centre de Recherche Clinique Étienne-Le Bel, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 2R1, Canada
| | - Vinay S Mahajan
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Alicja Piechocka-Trocha
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Kristina Lefteri
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Matthew Osborn
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Julia Bals
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Yannic C Bartsch
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Nathalie Bonheur
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Josh Chevalier
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Fatema Chowdhury
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Kevin Einkauf
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jon Fallon
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jared Feldman
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Kelsey K Finn
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | | | - Blake M Hauser
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Chenyang Jiang
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Paulina Kaplonek
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Marshall Karpell
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Eric C Koscher
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Xiaodong Lian
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hang Liu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jinqing Liu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Ngoc L Ly
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Ashlin R Michell
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Kyra Seiger
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Libera Sessa
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Sally Shin
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Nishant Singh
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Weiwei Sun
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Xiaoming Sun
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hannah J Ticheli
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Michael T Waring
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA
| | - Alex L Zhu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Galit Alter
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jonathan Z Li
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Daniel Lingwood
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Aaron G Schmidt
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Mathias Lichterfeld
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Bruce D Walker
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA; Department of Biology and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Xu G Yu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Robert F Padera
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Shiv Pillai
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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Kaneko N, Kuo HH, Boucau J, Farmer JR, Allard-Chamard H, Mahajan VS, Piechocka-Trocha A, Lefteri K, Osborn M, Bals J, Bartsch YC, Bonheur N, Caradonna TM, Chevalier J, Chowdhury F, Diefenbach TJ, Einkauf K, Fallon J, Feldman J, Finn KK, Garcia-Broncano P, Hartana CA, Hauser BM, Jiang C, Kaplonek P, Karpell M, Koscher EC, Lian X, Liu H, Liu J, Ly NL, Michell AR, Rassadkina Y, Seiger K, Sessa L, Shin S, Singh N, Sun W, Sun X, Ticheli HJ, Waring MT, Zhu AL, Li J, Lingwood D, Schmidt AG, Lichterfeld M, Walker BD, Yu X, Padera RF, Pillai S. The Loss of Bcl-6 Expressing T Follicular Helper Cells and the Absence of Germinal Centers in COVID-19. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2020:3652322. [PMID: 32742244 DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3652322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Revised: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Humoral responses in COVID-19 disease are often of limited durability, as seen with other human coronavirus epidemics. To address the underlying etiology, we examined postmortem thoracic lymph nodes and spleens in acute SARS-CoV-2 infection and observed the absence of germinal centers, a striking reduction in Bcl-6+ germinal center B cells but preservation of AID+ B cells. Absence of germinal centers correlated with an early specific block in Bcl-6+TFH cell differentiation together with an increase in T-bet+TH1 cells and aberrant extra-follicular TNF-a accumulation. Parallel peripheral blood studies revealed loss of transitional and follicular B cells in severe disease and accumulation of SARS-CoV-2-specific "disease-related" B cell populations. These data identify defective Bcl-6+TFH cell generation and dysregulated humoral immune induction early in COVID-19 disease, providing a mechanistic explanation for the limited durability of antibody responses in coronavirus infections and suggest that achieving herd immunity through natural infection may be difficult. Funding: This work was supported by NIH U19 AI110495 to SP, NIH R01 AI146779 to AGS, NIH R01AI137057 and DP2DA042422 to DL, BMH was supported by NIGMS T32 GM007753, TMC was supported by T32 AI007245. Funding for these studies from the Massachusetts Consortium of Pathogen Readiness, the Mark and Lisa Schwartz Foundation and Enid Schwartz is also acknowledged. Conflict of Interest: None. Ethical Approval: This study was performed with the approval of the Institutional Review Boards at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Brigham and Women's Hospital.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoki Kaneko
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hsiao-Hsuan Kuo
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Julie Boucau
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jocelyn R Farmer
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hugues Allard-Chamard
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Division of Rheumatology, Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé de l' Université de Sherbrooke et Centre de Recherche Clinique Étienne-Le Bel, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K 2R1, Canada
| | - Vinay S Mahajan
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Alicja Piechocka-Trocha
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase MD, 20815
| | - Kristina Lefteri
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Matt Osborn
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Julia Bals
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Yannic C Bartsch
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Nathalie Bonheur
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Josh Chevalier
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Fatema Chowdhury
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Kevin Einkauf
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jon Fallon
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jared Feldman
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Kelsey K Finn
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | | | - Blake M Hauser
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Chenyang Jiang
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Paulina Kaplonek
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Marshall Karpell
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Eric C Koscher
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Xiaodong Lian
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hang Liu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jinqing Liu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Ngoc L Ly
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Ashlin R Michell
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Kyra Seiger
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Libera Sessa
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Sally Shin
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Nishant Singh
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Weiwei Sun
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Xiaoming Sun
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Hannah J Ticheli
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Michael T Waring
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase MD, 20815
| | - Alex L Zhu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Jonathan Li
- Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Daniel Lingwood
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Aaron G Schmidt
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Matthias Lichterfeld
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Bruce D Walker
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase MD, 20815.,Department of Biology and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
| | - Xu Yu
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Robert F Padera
- Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115
| | - Shiv Pillai
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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