Genetic measurement of memory B-cell recall using antibody repertoire sequencing

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The elderly have reduced humoral immunity, as manifested by increased susceptibility to infections and impaired vaccine responses. To investigate the effects of aging on B-cell receptor (BCR) repertoire evolution during an immunological challenge, we used a phylogenetic distance metric to analyze Ig heavy-chain transcript sequences in both young and elderly individuals before and after influenza vaccination. We determined that BCR repertoires become increasingly specialized over a span of decades, but less plastic. In 50% of the elderly individuals, a large space in the repertoire was occupied by a small number of recall lineages that did not decline during vaccine response and contained hypermutated IgD + B cells. Relative to their younger counterparts, older subjects demonstrated a contracted naive repertoire and diminished intralineage diversification, signifying a reduced substrate for mounting novel responses and decreased fine-tuning of BCR specificities by somatic hypermutation. Furthermore, a larger proportion of the repertoire exhibited premature stop codons in some elderly subjects, indicating that aging may negatively affect the ability of B cells to discriminate between functional and nonfunctional receptors. Finally, we observed a decreased incidence of radical mutations compared with conservative mutations in elderly subjects' vaccine responses, which suggests that accumulating original antigenic sin may be limiting the accessible space for paratope evolution. Our findings shed light on the complex interplay of environmental and gerontological factors affecting immune senescence, and provide direct molecular characterization of the effects of senescence on the immune repertoire.aging | antibody repertoire | influenza vaccine | CMV | UniFrac T he deterioration of immune function with age, a process referred to as immunosenescence, is well recognized. Notable changes contributing to immunosenescence include, among others, decreased proliferation of lymphocytes, reduced T-cell receptor repertoire, and defects in antibody production (1, 2). This phenomenon contributes to an age-related increase in susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections and decreased response to vaccination (3-5). Indeed, individuals over the age of 65 y are less than half as protected by standard influenza vaccines as younger individuals (6), and pneumonia and influenza represent the fourth most common cause of death among aging individuals (4).Antibody-mediated immunity is the result of an evolutionary arms race between the pathogens to which an individual is exposed and antibody-producing B cells. A tremendous diversity of potential antibody affinities is generated by the mechanisms of V(D)J recombination, random junctional insertions/deletions, and somatic hypermutation (7). Preferential proliferation of activated B cells upon encounter with a cognate antigen then exerts a selective pressure for B-cell receptors (BCRs) with a high binding affinity to the antigen (7). The clonal history of B cells circulating in the blood c...

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Phylogenetic analysis of the human antibody repertoire reveals quantitative signatures of immune senescence and aging

Bourcy

Angel

Vollmers

et al. 2017

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“…Being DNA-based, HTGTS-Rep-seq also bypasses a major limitation of RNA-based methods for certain applications by quantitatively capturing the frequency of Ig rearrangements in a population regardless of their expression level or whether they are productive or nonproductive. Current means to address biases due to multiplex PCR or varying expression levels between cells include the use of universal identifiers (25,36,37) or single cell methods (38), but HTGTS-Rep-seq can accurately identify a population repertoire profile without the additional cost or steps of synthesizing primers with random barcodes, or sorting for single cells.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Highly sensitive and unbiased approach for elucidating antibody repertoires

Lin

et al. 2016

Developing B lymphocytes undergo V(D)J recombination to assemble germ-line V, D, and J gene segments into exons that encode the antigen-binding variable region of Ig heavy (H) and light (L) chains. IgH and IgL chains associate to form the B-cell receptor (BCR), which, upon antigen binding, activates B cells to secrete BCR as an antibody. Each of the huge number of clonally independent B cells expresses a unique set of IgH and IgL variable regions. The ability of V(D)J recombination to generate vast primary B-cell repertoires results from a combinatorial assortment of large numbers of different V, D, and J segments, coupled with diversification of the junctions between them to generate the complementary determining region 3 (CDR3) for antigen contact. Approaches to evaluate in depth the content of primary antibody repertoires and, ultimately, to study how they are further molded by secondary mutation and affinity maturation processes are of great importance to the B-cell development, vaccine, and antibody fields. We now describe an unbiased, sensitive, and readily accessible assay, referred to as high-throughput genome-wide translocation sequencing-adapted repertoire sequencing (HTGTS-Repseq), to quantify antibody repertoires. HTGTS-Rep-seq quantitatively identifies the vast majority of IgH and IgL V(D)J exons, including their unique CDR3 sequences, from progenitor and mature mouse B lineage cells via the use of specific J primers. HTGTS-Rep-seq also accurately quantifies DJ H intermediates and V(D)J exons in either productive or nonproductive configurations. HTGTS-Rep-seq should be useful for studies of human samples, including clonal B-cell expansions, and also for following antibody affinity maturation processes. 1). In this process, the V, D, and J coding ends are generated as covalent hairpins that must be opened and that are often further processed, before being joined by classical nonhomologous end joining (2). Processing of V, D, J coding ends can involve generation of deletions or insertions of nucleotides at the junction regions (2), including the frequent de novo addition of nucleotides by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase component of the V(D)J recombination process (3). Notably the V(D)J junctional region encodes a major antigen contact region of the antibody variable region, known as complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3), and thus these junctional diversification processes make a huge contribution to antibody diversity.The mouse IgH locus spans 2.7 megabases (Mb). There are 100s of V H s in the several megabase distal portion of the IgH, with the number varying substantially in certain mouse strains (4). The V H s lie ∼100 kb upstream from a 50-kb region containing 13 D H s, which is followed several kilobases downstream by a 2-kb region containing four J H s. The IgH constant region (C H ) exons lie downstream of the J H s. After assembly of a V H DJ H exon, transcription initiates upstream of the V H and terminates downstream of the C H exons, with V(D)J and C H portions being fused...

“…Recent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) (2) have enabled any DNA-encodable assay to produce massive amounts of data. Indeed, NGS has enabled unprecedented views into the immune repertoire, as its immune receptor diversity is genetically encoded within a complex collection of lymphocytes (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”

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confidence: 99%

High-resolution antibody dynamics of vaccine-induced immune responses

Laserson

Vigneault

Gadala-Maria

et al. 2014

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The adaptive immune system confers protection by generating a diverse repertoire of antibody receptors that are rapidly expanded and contracted in response to specific targets. Next-generation DNA sequencing now provides the opportunity to survey this complex and vast repertoire. In the present work, we describe a set of tools for the analysis of antibody repertoires and their application to elucidating the dynamics of the response to viral vaccination in human volunteers. By analyzing data from 38 separate blood samples across 2 y, we found that the use of the germ-line library of V and J segments is conserved between individuals over time. Surprisingly, there appeared to be no correlation between the use level of a particular VJ combination and degree of expansion. We found the antibody RNA repertoire in each volunteer to be highly dynamic, with each individual displaying qualitatively different response dynamics. By using combinatorial phage display, we screened selected VH genes paired with their corresponding VL library for affinity against the vaccine antigens. Altogether, this work presents an additional set of tools for profiling the human antibody repertoire and demonstrates characterization of the fast repertoire dynamics through time in multiple individuals responding to an immune challenge.next-generation sequencing | influenza | immunology T he immune system is able to rapidly sense and respond to a vast array of invading organisms. Its arsenal contains systems that are immediately effective against commonly seen patterns (innate immunity) and systems that are capable of responding to novel invaders (adaptive immunity). Given the acute nature and diversity of infections, the immune system must be capable of rapid recognition of a pathogen, amplification of the response, and subsequent contraction of the response after the resolution of the infection. Adaptive immune responses rely on the continuous selection and amplification of specific clones from an enormous library of immune receptors (antibodies and T cell receptors). Specifically, stimulation of B-cell immunity results in the synthesis of antibodies that are secreted into the blood stream or into the mucosa as well as the programming of B memory cells that play a crucial role in the generation of rapid protective responses upon reinfection.Currently, many immunology studies depend on characterizing lymphocyte subsets (e.g., assaying cell-surface receptors) and the ability to correlate them to encoded genetic information (1). Recent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) (2) have enabled any DNA-encodable assay to produce massive amounts of data. Indeed, NGS has enabled unprecedented views into the immune repertoire, as its immune receptor diversity is genetically encoded within a complex collection of lymphocytes (3-8).The present study set out to dissect the rapid dynamics of the complete human peripheral antibody response against a controlled immune challenge (vaccination), without the a priori notion of cell state markers or functions...