Fig. 2: Coexistent anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses and disruption to the B cell compartment in patients with COVID-19.

a, Peak antibody titers against SARS-CoV-2 SPIKE and RBD antigens (sero⁻ control, n′ = 32; sero⁺ control, n′ = 23; low, n′ = 6; moderate, n′ = 26; severe, n′ = 31). Analysis performed by Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s post hoc test. Horizontal line denotes the threshold for positivity. b, B cell numbers. c, CD19 mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) within B cells. d, Frequency of CD5⁺ B cells. e, Plasmablast numbers. Sero⁻ control, n = 33, n′ = 26; sero⁺ control, n = 34, n′ = 22; low, n = 10 n′ = 6; moderate, n = 34, n′ = 24; severe, n = 53, n′ = 28; LRTI, n = 16, n′ = 8 (b–e). f, Plasmablast frequencies and antibody titers over time in control and individuals with COVID-19 with multiple sampling dates (in samples <50 d after symptoms/first bleed). Repeat samples from the same individual are linked. COVID-19 samples are colored by CRP measurement, if clinical test performed within 48 h of sampling, otherwise they are white. Sero⁻ control, n = 17, n = 8; sero⁺ control, n = 24, n′ = 10; COVID-19, n = 71, n′ = 31. Box plots denote median and 25th to 75th percentiles (boxes) and 10th to 90th percentiles (whiskers) and were statistically evaluated by a linear mixed model grouped by severity (b–e), with patient as a random variable, corrected for age- and sex-dependency. LRTIs were compared with pooled COVID-19 samples. Sero⁻ and sero⁺ controls were pooled for comparison with COVID-19 samples for most parameters. Where sero⁻ and sero⁺ were statistically significantly different from each other, sero⁻ controls were instead compared with COVID-19. All tests were two sided and without multiple testing adjustment.

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