Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Head and Neck Surgery, Epworth Healthcare, Richmond, Victoria, Australia.
J Immunol. 2022 May 15;208(10):2267-2271. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2101199. Epub 2022 Apr 29.
Understanding the generation of immunity to SARS-CoV-2 in lymphoid tissues draining the site of infection has implications for immunity to SARS-CoV-2. We performed tonsil biopsies under local anesthesia in 19 subjects who had recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection 24-225 d previously. The biopsies yielded >3 million cells for flow cytometric analysis in 17 subjects. Total and SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific germinal center B cells, and T follicular helper cells, were readily detectable in human tonsils early after SARS-CoV-2 infection, as assessed by flow cytometry. Responses were higher in samples within 2 mo of infection but still detectable in some subjects out to 7 mo following infection. We conclude the tonsils are a secondary lymphoid organ that develop germinal center responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and could play a role in the long-term development of immunity.
了解感染部位引流淋巴组织中对 SARS-CoV-2 的免疫产生，对 SARS-CoV-2 免疫具有重要意义。我们对 19 名先前从 SARS-CoV-2 感染中康复的患者在局部麻醉下进行了扁桃体活检，这些患者距 SARS-CoV-2 感染的时间为 24-225 天。在 17 名患者中，活检获得了超过 300 万个细胞进行流式细胞术分析。通过流式细胞术评估，我们发现，在 SARS-CoV-2 感染后早期，人扁桃体中即可轻易检测到总 B 细胞和 SARS-CoV-2 刺突特异性生发中心 B 细胞以及滤泡辅助 T 细胞。在感染后 2 个月内的样本中，反应更高，但在感染后 7 个月的一些患者中仍可检测到。我们得出结论，扁桃体是次级淋巴器官，可对 SARS-CoV-2 感染产生生发中心反应，并可能在长期免疫发展中发挥作用。
