Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of human germinal center B cells

In response to T cell-dependent antigens, mature B cells are stimulated to form germinal centers, which are the place of B cell affinity maturation and selection. Here, we dissected the heterogeneity of germinal center B cells and reconstructed their pathway of differentiation using single-cell transcriptomic analysis. Dark zone, light zone and total germinal center B cells were isolated from two donors and analyzed by single-cell RNAseq. Total germinal center B cells were isolated from a third donor and subject to Cellular Indexing of Transcriptomes and Epitopes by sequencing (CITE-seq).