Shared B cell memory to coronaviruses and other pathogens varies in human age groups and tissues

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.