Human Memory Cell Sequencing

B cells have been segregated into distinct phenotypic and functional populations based on expression of cell surface markers. Amongst these heterogeneous populations, CD11c+, CD27- memory B cells, also known as atypical memory B cells (atBCs), accumulate in large numbers in conditions of autoimmunity such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or chronic infections like malaria or HIV. To provide a transcriptional basis for defining distinct B cell subsets and better understand the role of atBCs we performed single cell RNA-seq using both the Smart-seq 2 protocol and 10x Chromium platform to analyse circulating IgD- B cells from healthy human control subjects or subjects exposed to malaria infection.

研究人员基于细胞表面标志物的表达情况，将B细胞划分为不同的表型与功能亚群。在这些异质性亚群中，CD11c阳性、CD27阴性的记忆B细胞（亦称非典型记忆B细胞，atypical memory B cells，缩写atBCs），会在系统性红斑狼疮（systemic lupus erythematosus，缩写SLE）等自身免疫性疾病，或是疟疾、HIV等慢性感染状态下大量聚集。为界定不同B细胞亚群提供转录组学基础，并深入解析atBCs的功能作用，我们分别采用Smart-seq 2实验方案与10x Chromium平台，对健康对照个体及疟疾感染暴露个体的循环IgD阴性B细胞开展了单细胞RNA测序（single cell RNA-seq）实验。