ABSTRACT
Vaccination and infection promote the formation, tissue distribution, and clonal evolution of B cells, which encode humoral immune memory. We evaluated pediatric and adult blood and deceased adult organ donor tissues to determine convergent antigen-specific antibody genes of similar sequences shared between individuals. B cell memory varied for different pathogens. Polysaccharide antigen-specific clones were not exclusive to the spleen. Adults had higher clone frequencies and greater class switching in lymphoid tissues than blood, while pediatric blood had abundant class-switched convergent clones. Consistent with reported serology, prepandemic children had class-switched convergent clones to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 with weak cross-reactivity to other coronaviruses, while adult blood or tissues showed few such clones. These results highlight the prominence of early childhood B cell clonal expansions and cross-reactivity for future responses to novel pathogens.
Subject(s)
Antibodies, Viral/immunology , B-Lymphocytes/immunology , Coronavirus/immunology , Immunologic Memory , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Aging , Child, Preschool , Cross Reactions , Ebolavirus/immunology , Female , Fetal Blood/immunology , Genes, Immunoglobulin , Humans , Immunoglobulin Class Switching , Immunoglobulin D/genetics , Immunoglobulin D/immunology , Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains/immunology , Immunoglobulin M/genetics , Immunoglobulin M/immunology , Infant , Lymph Nodes/immunology , Male , Middle Aged , Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell/immunology , Somatic Hypermutation, Immunoglobulin , Spleen/immunology , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease has transformed innumerable aspects of medical practice, particularly in the field of transplantation. MAIN BODY: Here we describe a single-center approach to creating a generalizable, comprehensive, and graduated set of recommendations to respond in stepwise fashion to the challenges posed by these conditions, and the underlying principles guiding such decisions. CONCLUSIONS: Creation of a stepwise plan will allow transplant centers to respond in a dynamic fashion to the ongoing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.