title: VH1 Family Immunoglobulin Repertoire Sequencing after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.
abstract: After allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), recovery of humoral immunity is essential to protect from life-threatening infections. However, monitoring the humoral immune system after transplantation with standard techniques in the clinical routine is imprecise. Here, we performed sequencing of mononuclear bone marrow cells to characterize the VH1-repertoire of switched B cells of healthy volunteers and patients undergoing HSCT. Analysis of healthy bone marrow donors and patients showed virtually no clonally related sequences between individuals. Interestingly, clonally related sequences were present in pre- and post-transplantation bone marrow of patients undergoing HSCT for acute myeloid leukemia treatment. We consistently observed such related B cell clones, irrespective of conditioning regimen, donor source or time post transplantation. In general, repertoire diversity was lower in post-HSCT as compared to pre-HSCT samples. However, post-HSCT repertoires retained highly mutated sequences, despite immunosuppressive therapy and presence of T cell deficiency after HSCT. These observations identify key properties of the recovering B cell compartment and provide a conceptual framework for the surveillance of humoral immunity after allogeneic transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), partner site Hannover-Braunschweig, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Maya K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sethi
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Felicitas
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thol
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stadler
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heuser
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Arnold
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ganser
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Department of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Koenecke
authors.affiliation: Institute of Immunology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.|Institute of Molecular Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pabst
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D050438:Genes, Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain / Q000235:genetics*; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region / Q000235:genetics*; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007135:Immunoglobulin Variable Region