Table 1.
Baseline distribution of normal B-cell and plasma cell subsets (cells/µL) in each age cohort. Ages of the cohorts of which reference values were used: children 5–9 y/o, adolescents 10–17 y/o, young adults 18–39 y/o, older adults 60–79 y/o. The reference values as indicated in this table were selected from the study performed by Blanco et al. [32]. In the before-mentioned study, reference values for B-cell subsets are provided for all age ranges (from cord blood until older adults >80 y/o). When referring to the reference values indicated here, please refer to the original source data.
| Cohort | Children (ch) | Adolescents (ad) | Young Adults (yo) | Older Adults (ol) | Statistical Differences Between Cohorts | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 7–10 y/o | 11–15 y/o | 20–34 y/o | 60–70 y/o | No significant differences found within the other combination (yo vs. ol) | ||||||||||||
| Priming background | aP | Mixed aP and wP | wP | No vaccination history available (presumably wP-primed or not vaccinated) | |||||||||||||
| N= | 11 † | 12 | 11 † | 12 | |||||||||||||
| median | min. | max. | median | min. | max. | median | min. | max. | median | min. | max. | ch vs. yo | ch vs. ol |
ch vs. ad | ad vs. yo | ad vs. ol | |
| total B-cell reference cell counts cell counts |
451 496.0 |
157 346.0 |
725 966.0 |
360 430.0 |
174 133.0 |
630 667.0 |
220 279.0 |
41 141.0 |
470 481.0 |
173 244.0 |
36 53.5 |
384 396.0 |
** | *** | ns | ns | * |
| pre-GC B-cell reference cell counts cell counts |
391.0 |
NI 173.0 |
731.0 |
326.5 |
NI 96.3 |
529.0 |
194.0 |
NI 53.2 |
342.0 |
195.0 |
NI 31.5 |
273.0 |
** | ** | ns | * | ** |
| immature B-cell reference cell counts cell counts |
41 26.6 |
12 9.5 |
84 70.4 |
37 20.8 |
11 1.6 |
111 43.7 |
5.6 5.9 |
0.25 1.1 |
24 19.8 |
6.1 4.7 |
0.69 0.6 |
36 9.2 |
** | **** | ns | * | ** |
| CD5+ naive B-cell reference cell counts cell counts |
89.7 |
NI 25.0 |
248.0 |
49.8 |
NI 5.2 |
166.0 |
30.9 |
NI 7.8 |
152.0 |
15.3 |
NI 2.4 |
47.0 |
* | *** | ns | ns | * |
| naive B-cell reference cell counts cell counts |
265 260.0 |
68 124.0 |
505 483.0 |
189 238.5 |
75 89.4 |
401 335.0 |
111 160.0 |
13 44.0 |
288 186.0 |
109 150.0 |
20 24.9 |
280 250.0 |
** | * | ns | ns | * |
| memory B-cell reference cell counts cell counts |
123 160.0 |
64 76.1 |
282 252.0 |
68 96.2 |
31 33.6 |
1 60 193.0 |
91 85.7 |
23 31.3 |
221 282.0 |
56 63.8 |
13 21.1 |
128 171.0 |
ns | ** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgMD+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
54 65.7 |
23 30.7 |
147 129.0 |
29 48.8 |
17 16.0 |
78 141.0 |
38 37.4 |
7.9 10.0 |
122 121.0 |
27 20.8 |
7.4 8.6 |
72 93.2 |
* | **** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgG1+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
30 47.8 |
12 15.2 |
86 81.7 |
18 17.3 |
7 6.8 |
42 44.7 |
18 13.2 |
3.2 5.4 |
40 72.5 |
9.1 16.5 |
1.3 2.8 |
22 27.8 |
* | **** | ns | ns | ** |
|
IgG2+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
4.4 3.8 |
0.7 1.6 |
15 10.3 |
3.0 2.8 |
0.7 1.4 |
10 4.4 |
5.9 3.1 |
1.6 1.1 |
30 12.3 |
3.6 2.8 |
1.0 0.6 |
11 13.4 |
* | *** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgG3+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
7.4 7.9 |
2.4 3.2 |
16 13.0 |
3.0 3.1 |
1.1 0.6 |
8.3 7.1 |
3.0 1.8 |
0.5 0.8 |
8.4 6.4 |
2.3 2.1 |
0.4 0.5 |
8.1 7.4 |
* | ** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgG4+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
0.4 0.2 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
2.0 2.2 |
0.2 0.3 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
2.9 1.0 |
0.4 0.5 |
<0.01 0.1 |
2.4 6.1 |
0.4 0.3 |
<0.01 0.1 |
2.1 1.2 |
ns | *** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgA1+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
12 16.3 |
4.5 6.4 |
24 34.7 |
9.0 11.4 |
2.9 4.4 |
21 14.7 |
11 8.0 |
2.1 3.8 |
43 42.4 |
6.2 11.2 |
2.2 4.2 |
22 30.4 |
ns |
ns |
ns |
ns |
ns |
|
IgA2+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
3.2 4.8 |
1.0 1.4 |
13 10.3 |
2.7 2.7 |
0.8 0.5 |
5.9 6.2 |
4.1 3.1 |
1.2 0.7 |
18 17.5 |
3.4 2.7 |
0.7 0.8 |
9.0 9.6 |
ns | ** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgD+ memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
1.1 1.0 |
<0.01 0.3 |
2.9 2.1 |
0.3 0.4 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
1.7 1.4 |
0.2 0.2 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
2.4 2.7 |
0.01 0.2 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
1.2 0.8 |
* | ** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgH- memory cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
2.2 | NI 0.6 |
4.4 | 1.5 | NI 0.4 |
2.7 | 1.2 | NI 0.5 |
1.8 | 0.9 | NI 0.3 |
3.0 | ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
|
total plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
13 8.5 |
3.5 3.8 |
45 12.9 |
8.5 3.4 |
1.3 1.6 |
27 13.1 |
4.4 2.6 |
1.1 1.2 |
25 8.5 |
1.2 1.6 |
0.3 0.2 |
7.1 6.1 |
ns |
* |
ns |
ns |
ns |
|
IgM+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
1.4 1.3 |
0.6 0.3 |
14 2.9 |
0.8 0.6 |
0.2 0.4 |
5.7 2.0 |
0.4 0.4 |
0.05 0.1 |
4.7 2.8 |
0.1 0.1 |
0.01 <0.05 |
0.8 0.8 |
ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgG1+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
1.9 1.5 |
0.1 0.2 |
7.7 2.7 |
1.1 0.4 |
0.1 0.1 |
4.8 5.6 |
0.4 0.4 |
0.05 0.1 |
4.4 1.3 |
0.1 0.2 |
0.01 0.1 |
0.6 0.6 |
** | ** | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgG2+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
0.7 0.8 |
0.07 0.2 |
2.3 1.1 |
0.5 0.3 |
0.08 0.1 |
0.8 1.5 |
0.2 0.2 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
2.6 0.6 |
0.09 0.1 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
1.6 1.2 |
ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgG3+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
0.2 0.2 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
1.3 0.5 |
0.08 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.4 0.9 |
0.03 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.3 0.1 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.2 0.1 |
* |
** |
ns |
ns |
ns |
|
IgG4+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
0.02 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.2 0.2 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.2 0.2 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.4 0.7 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.1 0.1 |
ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgA1+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
4.4 3.4 |
0.6 0.6 |
16 5.6 |
3.1 1.3 |
0.5 0.4 |
14 4.1 |
1.7 1.1 |
0.3 0.4 |
6.9 3.3 |
0.4 0.7 |
0.04 0.1 |
3.3 3.0 |
ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgA2+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
1.5 1.0 |
0.3 0.3 |
3.5 2.7 |
1.0 2.7 |
0.3 0.5 |
3.6 6.2 |
0.7 0.3 |
0.2 0.1 |
4.2 1.1 |
0.3 0.2 |
0.06 0.1 |
1.2 1.2 |
ns | ns | ns | ns | ns |
|
IgD+ plasma cells
reference cell counts cell counts |
0.04 0.1 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.8 0.6 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
2.0 0.1 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
1.1 0.1 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
<0.01 <0.05 |
0.2 <0.05 |
** | ** | * | ns | ns |
† in children and young adults, for one included donor no baseline B-cell data was available. NI = not indicated. * p < 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01; *** p ≤ 0.001; **** p ≤ 0.0001.