The Future of Blood Testing Is the Immunome

It is increasingly clear that an extraordinarily diverse range of clinically important conditions—including infections, vaccinations, autoimmune diseases, transplants, transfusion reactions, aging, and cancers—leave telltale signatures in the millions of V(D)J-rearranged antibody and T cell receptor [TR per the Human Genome Organization (HUGO) nomenclature but more commonly known as TCR] genes collectively expressed by a person’s B cells (antibodies) and T cells. We refer to these as the immunome. Because of its diversity and complexity, the immunome provides singular opportunities for advancing personalized medicine by serving as the substrate for a highly multiplexed, near-universal blood test. Here we discuss some of these opportunities, the current state of immunome-based diagnostics, and highlight some of the challenges involved. We conclude with a call to clinicians, researchers, and others to join efforts with the Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire Community (AIRR-C) to realize the diagnostic potential of the immunome.

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VDJbase: an adaptive immune receptor genotype and haplotype database

Nucleic Acids Research ◽

10.1093/nar/gkz872 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 48 (D1) ◽

pp. D1051-D1056 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Aviv Omer ◽

Or Shemesh ◽

Ayelet Peres ◽

Pazit Polak ◽

Adrian J Shepherd ◽

...

Keyword(s):

T Cell Receptor ◽

Scientific Community ◽

Cell Receptor ◽

Web Based ◽

Immune Receptor ◽

Adaptive Immune ◽

Receptor Repertoire ◽

Online Tools ◽

Haplotype Data ◽

Repertoire Sequencing

Abstract VDJbase is a publicly available database that offers easy searching of data describing the complete sets of gene sequences (genotypes and haplotypes) inferred from adaptive immune receptor repertoire sequencing datasets. VDJbase is designed to act as a resource that will allow the scientific community to explore the genetic variability of the immunoglobulin (Ig) and T cell receptor (TR) gene loci. It can also assist in the investigation of Ig- and TR-related genetic predispositions to diseases. Our database includes web-based query and online tools to assist in visualization and analysis of the genotype and haplotype data. It enables users to detect those alleles and genes that are significantly over-represented in a particular population, in terms of genotype, haplotype and gene expression. The database website can be freely accessed at https://www.vdjbase.org/, and no login is required. The data and code use creative common licenses and are freely downloadable from https://bitbucket.org/account/user/yaarilab/projects/GPHP.

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CSF-Derived CD4+ T-Cell Diversity Is Reduced in Patients With Alzheimer Clinical Syndrome

Neurology Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation ◽

10.1212/nxi.0000000000001106 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. e1106

Author(s):

Chaitanya Joshi ◽

Karthigayini Sivaprakasam ◽

Scott Christley ◽

Sara Ireland ◽

Jacqueline Rivas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

T Cells ◽

T Cell ◽

T Cell Receptor ◽

Cell Expansion ◽

Cell Receptor ◽

Clinical Syndrome ◽

Adaptive Immune ◽

Receptor Repertoire ◽

T Cell Receptor Repertoire ◽

Cell Receptor Repertoire

Background and ObjectivesPatients with Alzheimer dementia display evidence of amyloid-related neurodegeneration. Our focus was to determine whether such patients also display evidence of a disease-targeting adaptive immune response mediated by CD4+ T cells. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated the CSF immune profiles of patients with Alzheimer clinical syndrome (ACS), who display clinically defined dementia.MethodsInnate and adaptive immune profiles of patients with ACS were measured using multicolor flow cytometry. CSF-derived CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell receptor repertoire genetics were measured using next-generation sequencing. Brain-specific autoantibody signatures of CSF-derived antibody pools were measured using array technology or ELISA. CSF from similar-age healthy controls (HCs) was used as a comparator cohort.ResultsInnate cells were expanded in the CSF of patients with ACS in comparison to HCs, and innate cell expansion increased with age in the patients with ACS, but not HCs. Despite innate cell expansion in the CSF, the frequency of total CD4+ T cells reduced with age in the patients with ACS. T-cell receptor repertoire genetics indicated that T-cell clonal expansion is enhanced, and diversity is reduced in the patients with ACS compared with similar-age HCs.DiscussionExamination of CSF indicates that CD4+ T cell–mediated adaptive immune responses are altered in patients with ACS. Understanding the underlying mechanisms affecting adaptive immunity will help move us toward the goal of slowing cognitive decline.

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Profiling Germline Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire with gAIRR Suite

10.1101/2020.11.27.399857 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Mao-Jan Lin ◽

Yu-Chun Lin ◽

Nae-Chyun Chen ◽

Allen Chilun Luo ◽

Sheng-Kai Lai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

T Cell Receptor ◽

Cell Receptor ◽

Clinical Applications ◽

Whole Genome ◽

High Genetic Diversity ◽

Immune Receptor ◽

Genetic Profiling ◽

Adaptive Immune ◽

Receptor Repertoire ◽

Genome Assemblies

ABSTRACTThe genetic profiling of germline Adaptive Immune Receptor Repertoire (AIRR), including T cell receptor (TR) and immunoglobulin (IG), might be medically important but currently insurmountable due to high genetic diversity and complex recombination. In this study, we developed the gAIRR Suite comprising three modules. gAIRR-seq, a probe capture-based targeted sequencing pipeline, profiles genomic sequences of TR and IG from individual DNA samples. The computational pipelines gAIRR-call and gAIRR-annotate call alleles from gAIRR-seq reads and whole-genome assemblies. We applied gAIRR-seq and gAIRR-call to genotype TRV and TRJ alleles of Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) DNA samples with 100% accuracy. gAIRR-annotate profiled the alleles of 13 high-quality whole-genome assemblies from 6 samples and further discovered 79 novel TRV alleles and 11 novel TRJ alleles. We validated a 65-kbp and a 10-kbp structural variant for HG002 on chromosomes 7 and 14, where TRD and J alleles reside. We also uncovered the disagreement of the human genome GRCh37 and GRCh38 in the TR regions; GRCh37 possesses a 270 kbp inversion and a 10 kbp deletion in chromosome 7 relative to GRCh38. The gAIRR Suite might benefit genetic study and future clinical applications for various immune-related phenotypes.

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