Multiplexed Antibody Sequencing and Profiling of the Human Hemagglutinin-specific Memory B Cell Response following Influenza Vaccination

Abstract

Influenza virus is a highly contagious respiratory pathogen causing between 9.4 and 41 million infections per year in the United States in the last decade. Annual vaccination is recommended by the World Health Organization, with the goal to reduce influenza severity and transmission. Ag-specific single B cell sequencing methodologies have opened up new avenues into the dissection of the Ab response to influenza virus. The improvement of these methodologies is pivotal to reduce the associated costs and optimize the operational workflow and throughput, especially in the context of multiple samples. In this study, PBMCs and serum samples were collected longitudinally from eight influenza vaccinees either vaccinated yearly for four consecutive influenza seasons or once for one season. Following the serological and B cell profiling of their polyclonal Ab response to a panel of historical, recent, and next-generation influenza vaccine hemagglutinin (HA) and virus strains, a single multiplexed Ag-specific single B cell sequencing run allowed to capture HA-specific memory B cells that were analyzed for preferential Ig H chain/L chain pairing, isotype/subclass usage, and the presence of public BCR clonotypes across participants. Binding and functional profiles of representative private and public clonotypes confirmed their HA specificity, and their overall binding and functional activity were consistent with those observed at the polyclonal level. Collectively, this high-resolution and multiplexed Ab repertoire analysis demonstrated the validity of this optimized methodology in capturing Ag-specific BCR clonotypes, even in the context of a rare B cell population, such as in the case of the peripheral Ag-specific memory B cells.