ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbes and Innate Immunity
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1573511
This article is part of the Research TopicCurrent molecular, immunological, pathological and clinical aspects of pathogenic infectionsView all 10 articles
Alterations in BCR heavy chain CDR3 repertoire characteristics in pediatric mycoplasma pneumoniae infection
Provisionally accepted
Yanfei Chen1Yi Yuan2
Xingzhu Liu1
Bin Li1Lijuan Meng1Ying Xiao1
Zhongjian Su1Linfei Han1Hong Li1Lili Deng1
Jun Li2
Caixia Ye3*
Xing Zhang1*- 1Kunming Children's Hospital, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
- 2Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou Province, China
- 3Yunyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Chongqing, China
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Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) infection is a leading cause of pediatric pneumonia, triggering a complex immune response with B cells playing a critical role. This study aimed to analyze serological markers, B cell responses, and B cell receptor (BCR) heavy chain CDR3 repertoires in MP patients. Clinical data from 202 children diagnosed with MP were retrospectively analyzed. Flow cytometry was employed to assess B cell counts in 99 MP patients and 25 healthy controls (HC). Additionally, BCR heavy chain CDR3 repertoires were constructed using multiplex PCR from peripheral blood samples of 8 MP patients and 9 HC. Serological data revealed elevated levels of inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and ferritin, suggesting an active immune response. Flow cytometry demonstrated significantly increased B cell counts in MP patients compared to HC, supporting the involvement of B cells in the immune defense against MP. Immunoglobulin levels were elevated in several patients, indicating fluctuations in immune function during infection. Further analysis of the BCR heavy chain CDR3 repertoires revealed distinct differences between MP patients and HC, including increased repertoire diversity and altered clonotype distribution. MP patients exhibited preferential usage of specific V and J gene segments, with significant enrichment of IGHV1-18, IGHV7-4-1, and IGHJ6. CDR3 length distribution in MP patients showed a bimodal pattern, with significantly longer CDR3 regions. Disease-specific clonotypes, including 68 MP-exclusive clonotypes, were identified, with substantial clonal expansion, highlighting the potential role of these clones in MP pathogenesis. Our findings suggest that alterations in the BCR heavy chain CDR3 repertoire are integral to the immune response against MP infection and may provide insight into disease progression and therapeutic targets.
Keywords: Mycoplasma pneumoniae, B cell receptor, CDR3 repertoire, Flow Cytometry, Clonal expansion
Received: 14 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Yuan, Liu, Li, Meng, Xiao, Su, Han, Li, Deng, Li, Ye and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Caixia Ye, Yunyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Chongqing, China
Xing Zhang, Kunming Children's Hospital, Kunming, 650221, Yunnan Province, China
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