CD27hiCD38hi plasmablasts are activated B cells of mixed origin with distinct function

• Main Authors: Rouers, Angeline, Appanna, Ramapraba, Chevrier, Marion, Lum, Josephine, Lau, Mai Chan, Tan, Lingqiao, Loy, Thomas, Tay, Alicia, Sethi, Raman, Sathiakumar, Durgalakshmi, Kaur, Kaval, Böhme, Julia, Leo, Yee-Sin, Renia, Laurent, Howland, Shanshan W, Singhal, Amit, Chen, Jinmiao, Fink, Katja
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Science::Medicine; Cell Biology; Immunology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/160689
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Clinically important broadly reactive B cells evolve during multiple infections, with B cells re-activated after secondary infection differing from B cells activated after a primary infection. Here we studied CD27highCD38high plasmablasts from patients with a primary or secondary dengue virus infection. Three transcriptionally and functionally distinct clusters were identified. The largest cluster 0/1 was plasma cell-related, with cells coding for serotype cross-reactive antibodies of the IgG1 isotype, consistent with memory B cell activation during an extrafollicular response. Cells in clusters 2 and 3 expressed low levels of antibody genes and high levels of genes associated with oxidative phosphorylation, EIF2 pathway, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Clusters 2 and 3 showed a transcriptional footprint of T cell help, in line with activation from naive B cells or memory B cells. Our results contribute to the understanding of the parallel B cell activation events that occur in humans after natural primary and secondary infection.