Comprehensive analysis of TCR repertoire of COVID-19 patients in different infected stage

• Published in: Genes & genomics Vol. 44; no. 7; pp. 813 - 822
• Main Authors: Wang, Guangyu, Wang, Yongsi, Jiang, Shaofeng, Fan, Wentao, Mo, Chune, Gong, Weiwei, Chen, Hui, He, Dan, Huang, Jinqing, Ou, Minglin, Hou, Xianliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01-07-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V; 한국유전학회
• Subjects: Analysis; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Antigens; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cloning; Complementarity-determining region 3; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Development and progression; Disease transmission; Epidemics; Health aspects; Human Genetics; J gene; Leukocytes (mononuclear); Life Sciences; Lymphocytes T; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Patients; Peripheral blood mononuclear cells; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Public health; Rehabilitation; Research Article; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; T cell receptors; T cells; Viral antigens; 생물학; Coronavirus disease 2019; SARS-CoV-2; T cell receptor
• ISSN: 1976-9571; 2092-9293
• DOI: 10.1007/s13258-022-01261-w

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.