Characterization of B-cell receptor clonality and immunoglobulin gene usage at multiple time points during active SARS-CoV-2 infection.
J Med Virol 2023;
95:e29179. [PMID:
37877800 DOI:
10.1002/jmv.29179]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
Although monoclonal antibodies to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) are known, B-cell receptor repertoire and its change in patients during coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) progression is underreported. We aimed to study this molecularly. We used immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) variable region (IGHV) spectratyping and next-generation sequencing of peripheral blood B-cell genomic DNA collected at multiple time points during disease evolution to study B-cell response to SARS-CoV-2 infection in 14 individuals with acute COVID-19. We found a broad distribution of responding B-cell clones. The IGH gene usage was not significantly skewed but frequencies of individual IGH genes changed repeatedly. We found predominant usage of unmutated and low mutation-loaded IGHV rearrangements characterizing naïve and extrafollicular B cells among the majority of expanded peripheral B-cell clonal lineages at most tested time points in most patients. IGH rearrangement usage showed no apparent relation to anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody titers. Some patients demonstrated mono/oligoclonal populations carrying highly mutated IGHV rearrangements indicating antigen experience at some of the time points tested, including even before anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were detected. We present evidence demonstrating that the B-cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is individual and includes different lineages of B cells at various time points during COVID-19 progression.
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