Single-Cell Profiling of B Cell Responses to Influenza Vaccination | Aging-US

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Aging-US published this research paper on June 26, 2023 in Volume 15, Issue 18, entitled, “High-throughput single-cell profiling of B cell responses following inactivated influenza vaccination in young and older adults" by researchers from Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Department of Immunobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Section of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT; Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.204778 Corresponding authors - Albert C. Shaw - albert.shaw@yale.edu, and Steven H. Kleinstein - steven.kleinstein@yale.edu Abstract Seasonal influenza contributes to a substantial disease burden, resulting in approximately 10 million hospital visits and 50 thousand deaths in a typical year in the United States. 70 - 85% of the mortality occurs in people over the age of 65. Influenza vaccination is the best protection against the virus, but it is less effective for the elderly, which may be in part due to differences in the quantity or type of B cells induced by vaccination. To investigate this possibility, we sorted pre- and post-vaccination peripheral blood B cells from three young and three older adults with strong antibody responses to the inactivated influenza vaccine and employed single-cell technology to simultaneously profile the gene expression and the B cell receptor (BCR) of the B cells. Prior to vaccination, we observed a higher somatic hypermutation frequency and a higher abundance of activated B cells in older adults than in young adults. Following vaccination, young adults mounted a more clonal response than older adults. The expanded clones included a mix of plasmablasts, activated B cells, and resting memory B cells in both age groups, with a decreased proportion of plasmablasts in older adults. Differential abundance analysis identified additional vaccine-responsive cells that were not part of expanded clones, especially in older adults. We observed broadly consistent gene expression changes in vaccine-responsive plasmablasts and greater heterogeneity among activated B cells between age groups. These quantitative and qualitative differences in the B cells provide insights into age-related changes in influenza vaccination response. Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://aging.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Faging.204778 Subscribe for free publication alerts from Aging - https://www.aging-us.com/subscribe-to-toc-alerts Keywords - aging, B cell receptor, repertoire, clonal expansion, single-cell RNA-seq About Aging-US Launched in 2009, Aging-US publishes papers of general interest and biological significance in all fields of aging research and age-related diseases, including cancer—and now, with a special focus on COVID-19 vulnerability as an age-dependent syndrome. Topics in Aging-US go beyond traditional gerontology, including, but not limited to, cellular and molecular biology, human age-related diseases, pathology in model organisms, signal transduction pathways (e.g., p53, sirtuins, and PI-3K/AKT/mTOR, among others), and approaches to modulating these signaling pathways. Please visit our website at https://www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/Aging-Us Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AgingUS/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/AgingJrnl Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/agingjrnl/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@AgingJournal LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/aging/ Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/AgingUS/ Media Contact 18009220957 MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM