Fig 1: Disrupted LN GCs in COVID-19 patients versus mRNA vaccinees(A) Representative LN GC histology of COVID-19 patients and vaccinees evaluated with four-color Codex immunofluorescence analysis for CD20 (B cells), CD3 (T cells), BCL6 (GC B cells [major subset] and follicular helper T cells [minor subset]), and CD21 (follicular dendritic cells).(B) Representative immunohistochemistry of GCs with CD21 (left), BCL6 (middle), and PD-1 (right) in peribronchial LNs of an autopsy patient who died of COVID-19, a control autopsy patient who died from a non-COVID-19 pneumonia (prepandemic), and in an axillary LN of a patient vaccinated with a SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine.(C–E) Relative proportion (upper) and absolute number (lower) of GCs in LNs (C), of BCL6+ cells within GCs (D), and of PD-1+ cells within GCs (E) from COVID-19 autopsy patients (n = 6), control autopsy patients (n = 3), and mRNA-vaccinated patients (n = 7). Quantification performed in QuPath digital pathology analysis software. Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to calculate p values. Error bars represent mean ± SEM. *p < 0.03; **p < 0.003.