Antibody responses against bacterial glycans affinity mature and diversify in germinal centers
Holly A. Fryer·Danika L. Hill·Kathryn Girling·Melanie R. Neeland·Sean Byars·Hannah R. Frost·Isaak Quast·Joshua Osowicki·Alana L. Whitcombe·Marcus J Robinson·Liam Gubbels·Nicole J. Moreland·Catherine Pitt·Jonathan Noonan·Andrew C. Steer·Shivanthan Shanthikumar·Nicola Slee·Stuart G. Tangye·David M. Tarlinton·S.W. Scally·Pailene S. Lim·Dean Andrew·Michelle J. Boyle·Brian Wilson-Boyd·Sarju Vasani·Nitika Kandhari·Kaneka Chheng·Natalie Caltabiano·Reece M. Lovett·Gareth Lloyd·Rhiannon L. Fettes·Trang T. Nguyen·Jodie Ballantine·Julianne Hamelink·Karen Davies·Eric Levi
Anti-carbohydrate antibodies (Abs) play crucial roles in pathogen control, but their generation remains poorly understood. Here, we studied how B cell immunity against the Streptococcus pyogenes surface polysaccharide is influenced by age and antigen (Ag) exposure across human blood, spleen, and tonsils. The glycan-targeted response shifted from immunoglobulin M (IgM) biased in children toward IgG and IgA biased in adults. Both natural colonization and controlled human infection with S. pyogenes