An Integrated Multi-Omic Single Cell Atlas to Redefine Human B Cell Memory

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of heterogeneous B cells in health and disease, comprehensive profiling is needed at a single cell resolution. We developed a highly- multiplexed screen to quantify the co-expression of 351 surface molecules on low numbers of primary cells. We identified dozens of differentially expressed molecules and aligned their variance with B cell isotype usage, metabolism, biosynthesis activity, and signaling response. Here, we propose a new classification scheme to segregate peripheral blood B cells into ten unique subsets, including a CD45RB+ CD27- early memory population and a CD19^hi CD11c+ memory population that is a potent responder to immune activation. Furthermore, we quantify the contributions of antibody isotype and cell surface phenotype to various cell processes and find that phenotype largely drives B cell function. Taken together, these findings provide an extensive profile of human B cell diversity that can serve as a resource for further immunological investigations.

Keywords: B cells, human, mass cytometry, CyTOF, single cell, high-dimensional, immune repertoire sequencing, multi-omic, atlas, phenotype, isotype, biosynthesis, cell signaling, metabolism, memory B cells, systems biology