A Rapid Method for Detection of Antigen-Specific B Cells.

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Virology
• Computational Biology

Background:

• The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic spurred global research into identifying antigen-specific T and B cells.
• Humoral immunity mediated by B cells is crucial for COVID-19 patient survival and vaccine efficacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid, cost-efficient method for identifying antigen-specific B cells and their corresponding B-cell receptors (BCRs) in severe COVID-19 patients.
• To clone and produce functional antibodies from identified BCRs for further characterization.

Main Methods:

• Integration of antigen-specific B cell sorting with B-cell receptor mRNA sequencing (BCR-seq).
• Computational analysis of BCR sequences.
• Cloning and production of full antibodies from identified BCRs.
• Confirmation of antibody reactivity against the SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain (RBD).

Main Results:

• Successfully identified antigen-specific B cells in peripheral blood of severe COVID-19 patients.
• Isolated and produced functional antibodies from these B cells.
• Confirmed the reactivity of produced antibodies to the spike RBD domain.

Conclusions:

• The implemented approach is rapid and cost-efficient for identifying antigen-specific B cells.
• This method enables the generation of functional antibodies targeting specific viral domains.
• The technique holds potential for monitoring individual immune responses and informing vaccine strategies.