Journal Article

SARS-CoV-2 infection induces long-lived bone marrow plasma cells in humans

Pusic, Iskra, Kalaidina, Elizaveta, Rauseo, Adriana M., Ellebedy, Ali H., O’Halloran, Jane A., Hansen, Lena, Goss, Charles W., Haile, Alem, Schmitz, Aaron J., Klebert, Michael K., Kim, Wooseob, Presti, Rachel M., Turner, Jackson S.

2021

Overview

Long-lived bone marrow plasma cells (BMPCs) are a persistent and essential source of protective antibodies 1 – 7 . Individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 have a substantially lower risk of reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 8 – 10 . Nonetheless, it has been reported that levels of anti-SARS-CoV-2 serum antibodies decrease rapidly in the first few months after infection, raising concerns that long-lived BMPCs may not be generated and humoral immunity against SARS-CoV-2 may be short-lived 11 – 13 . Here we show that in convalescent individuals who had experienced mild SARS-CoV-2 infections ( n  = 77), levels of serum anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (S) antibodies declined rapidly in the first 4 months after infection and then more gradually over the following 7 months, remaining detectable at least 11 months after infection. Anti-S antibody titres correlated with the frequency of S-specific plasma cells in bone marrow aspirates from 18 individuals who had recovered from COVID-19 at 7 to 8 months after infection. S-specific BMPCs were not detected in aspirates from 11 healthy individuals with no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection. We show that S-binding BMPCs are quiescent, which suggests that they are part of a stable compartment. Consistently, circulating resting memory B cells directed against SARS-CoV-2 S were detected in the convalescent individuals. Overall, our results indicate that mild infection with SARS-CoV-2 induces robust antigen-specific, long-lived humoral immune memory in humans. SARS-CoV-2 infection induces long-lived bone marrow plasma cells that correlate with anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein antibody titres in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 13/1 / 13/31 / 631/250/1619/40/1742 / 631/250/2152/2153/1291 / 631/250/2152/2153/1571 / 631/326/596/4130 / Adult / Aged / Antibodies / Antigens / Bone marrow / Bone Marrow Cells - cytology / Bone Marrow Cells - immunology / Cell Survival / Coronaviruses / COVID-19 / COVID-19 - immunology / COVID-19 vaccines / Female / Flow cytometry / Health aspects / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Humoral immunity / Immunologic Memory / Immunological memory / Infections / Influenza / Long bone / Lymphocytes B / Male / Memory cells / Middle Aged / multidisciplinary / Plasma / Plasma cells / Plasma Cells - cytology / Plasma Cells - immunology / Proteins / SARS-CoV-2 - immunology / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 / Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - immunology / Spike protein / Tetanus / Viruses / Young Adult