Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of pneumonia and a leading cause of death 1world-wide. Antibody-mediated immune responses can offer protection against repeated 2 exposure to S. pneumoniae, yet vaccines only offer partial protection. Patients with 3 Activated PI3Kδ Syndrome (APDS) are highly susceptible to S. pneumoniae. We generated 4 a conditional knockin mouse model of this disease and identified a CD19 + B220 -B cell 5 subset that is induced by PI3Kδ signaling, is resident in the lungs, and which promotes 6 increased susceptibility to S. pneumoniae during the early phase of infection via an 7 antibody-independent mechanism. We show that an inhaled PI3Kδ inhibitor improves 8 survival rates following S. pneumoniae infection in wild-type mice and in mice with 9 activated PI3Kδ. These results suggest that a subset of B cells in the lung can promote the 10 severity of S. pneumoniae infection, representing a novel therapeutic target. 11 100 2B). This pattern resembles results found in patients with APDS 10 . In wild-type and 101 p110δ E1020K-GL cells, the PI3Kδ-selective inhibitor nemiralisib reduced PIP3 to the background 102 level observed in p110δ D910A cells, which, as expected, were insensitive to nemiralisib ( Fig 103 2A, B). 104 105 PIP3 binds to the protein kinase AKT, supporting its phosphorylation on Thr308 and 106 subsequent activation. Western blotting of purified p110δ E1020K-GL T cells showed increased 107AKT phosphorylation following stimulation with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 antibodies 108 compared to wild-type cells, whereas AKT phosphorylation in p110δ D910A T cells was below 109 the limit of detection ( Fig 2C). In B cells, both basal and anti-IgM-induced phosphorylation of 110 AKT were elevated in p110δ E1020K-GL cells, while strongly diminished in p110δ D910A B cells (Fig 111 2D). The phosphorylation of ERK and the AKT effector proteins, FOXO and S6, were similarly 112 affected. All phosphorylation events in wild-type and p110δ E1020K-GL cells were reduced to 113 the levels observed in p110δ D910A cells by inhibition with nemiralisib. As expected, p110δ 114 protein expression was not affected by the E1020K or D910A mutations (Figs 2C, D). 115 116