Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2025
T and B Cell Receptor Immune Repertoire Analysis using Next-generation Sequencing
Published on: January 12, 2021
T-cell receptor repertoires as potential diagnostic markers for patients with COVID-19
Xianliang Hou1, Guangyu Wang2, Wentao Fan3
1Central Laboratory, Guangxi Health Commission Key Laboratory of Glucose and Lipid Metabolism Disorders, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, 541199, China.
Objective:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an ongoing global health emergency. T-cell receptors (TCRs) are crucial mediators of antiviral adaptive immunity. This study sought to comprehensively characterize the TCR repertoire changes in patients with COVID-19.
Methods:
A large sample size multi-center randomized controlled trial was implemented to study the features of the TCR repertoire and identify COVID-19 disease-related TCR sequences.
Results:
It was found that some T-cell receptor beta chain (TCRβ) features differed markedly between COVID-19 patients and healthy controls, including decreased repertoire diversity, longer complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) length, skewed utilization of the TCRβ variable gene/joining gene (TRBV/J), and a high degree of TCRβ sharing in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, this analysis showed that TCR repertoire diversity declines with aging, which may be a cause of the higher infection and mortality rates in elderly patients. Importantly, a set of TCRβ clones that can distinguish COVID-19 patients from healthy controls with high accuracy was identified. Notably, this diagnostic model demonstrates 100% specificity and 82.68% sensitivity at 0-3 days post diagnosis.
Conclusions:
This study lays the foundation for immunodiagnosis and the development of medicines and vaccines for COVID-19 patients.
More Related Videos
14:14Simultaneous Quantification of T-Cell Receptor Excision Circles TRECs and K-Deleting Recombination Excision Circles KRECs by Real-time PCR
Published on: December 6, 2014
06:46A High-Throughput Multiplexed Screening for Type 1 Diabetes, Celiac Diseases, and COVID-19
Published on: July 5, 2022
Related Concept Videos
01:22T Cell Activation and Clonal Selection
Naive T cells that have not yet encountered an antigen express two primary CD...
01:28Diversity of Antigen Receptors
Before encountering any antigen, lymphocytes express these receptors. On B cells, the antigen receptor is a membrane-bound antibody molecule called BCR; on T cells, it is a T cell receptor or TCR. B and T cell receptors are composed of two...