Extrafollicular IgD−CD27−CXCR5−CD11c− DN3 B cells infiltrate inflamed tissues in autoimmune fibrosis and in severe COVID-19

Abstract

Although therapeutic B cell depletion dramatically resolves inflammation in many diseases in which antibodies appear not to play a central role, distinct extrafollicular pathogenic B cell subsets that accumulate in disease lesions have hitherto not been identified. The circulating immunoglobulin D (IgD)-CD27-CXCR5-CD11c+ DN2 B cell subset has been previously studied in some autoimmune diseases. A distinct IgD-CD27-CXCR5-CD11c- DN3 B cell subset accumulates in the blood both in IgG4-related disease, an autoimmune disease in which inflammation and fibrosis can be reversed by B cell depletion, and in severe COVID-19. These DN3 B cells prominently accumulate in the end organs of IgG4-related disease and in lung lesions in COVID-19, and double-negative B cells prominently cluster with CD4+ Tcells in these lesions. Extrafollicular DN3 B cells may participate in tissue inflammation and fibrosis in autoimmune fibrotic diseases, as well as in COVID-19.