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Updated: Sep 23, 2025
T and B Cell Receptor Immune Repertoire Analysis using Next-generation Sequencing
Published on: January 12, 2021
Comprehensive analysis of TCR repertoire of COVID-19 patients in different infected stage
Guangyu Wang1, Yongsi Wang2, Shaofeng Jiang3
1Central Laboratory, Guangxi Health Commission Key Laboratory of Glucose and Lipid Metabolism Disorders, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin, 541199, China.
Insights
The T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire in COVID-19 patients shows significant differences, including reduced diversity and altered gene usage. These TCR changes can accurately distinguish patients from healthy individuals, aiding diagnosis.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Virology
- Genomics
Background:
- The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, presents a significant global health challenge.
- Understanding the immune response is crucial for managing the disease.
Purpose of the Study:
- To comprehensively analyze the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire in COVID-19 patients.
- To identify TCR sequences associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease progression.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of TCR repertoires in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from COVID-19 patients at different disease stages (baseline, acute, convalescent).
- Utilized ImmunoSEQ technology for high-throughput TCR sequencing.
- Identified TCR beta-chain (TCRβ) complementary-determining region 3 (CDR3) features and gene usage.
Main Results:
- COVID-19 patients exhibited distinct TCRβ CDR3 repertoire features compared to controls, including decreased diversity, abnormal CDR3 length, altered TRBV/J gene usage, and increased sequence overlap.
- Identified specific TCRβ clones associated with COVID-19, with abundance correlating to disease progression.
- These disease-associated TCRβ clones demonstrated high accuracy in distinguishing COVID-19 patients from healthy individuals.
Conclusions:
- The study provides a detailed understanding of the TCR repertoire alterations in COVID-19.
- These findings lay the groundwork for improved diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for COVID-19 patients.
Background:
The current pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), transmitted person-to-person by the severe acute respiratory syndrome of coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), poses a threat to global public health.
Objective:
In this study, we performed the comprehensive analysis of the T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire may contribute to a more in-depth understanding of the pathogenesis of COVID-19.
Methods:
A comprehensive immunological analysis was performed to explore the features of the TCR repertoire and identified TCR sequences correlated with SARS-CoV-2 viral antigens.
Results:
we analyzed the COVID-19 patients' TCR repertoires in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) which obtained before (baseline), during (acute), and after rehabilitation (convalescent) by ImmunoSEQ-technology, and found that repertoire features of TCRβ-chain (TCRβ) complementary-determining region 3 (CDR3) in COVID-19 patients were remarkable difference, including decreased TCR diversity, abnormal CDR3 length, difference of TRBV/J gene usage and higher TCR sequence overlap. Besides, we identified some COVID-19 disease-associated TCRβ clones, and the abundance of them changed with the progression of the disease. Importantly, these disease-associated TCRβ clones could be used to distinguish COVID-19 patients from healthy controls with high accuracy.
Conclusions:
We provide a clear understanding of the TCR repertoire of COVID-19 patients, which lays the foundation for better diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients.
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