Large libraries of single-chain trimer peptide-MHCs enable antigen-specific CD8+ T cell discovery and analysis.

Publication Title

Commun Biol

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-16-2023

Keywords

washington; isb; covid-19

Abstract

Abstract

The discovery and characterization of antigen-specific CD8+ T cell clonotypes typically involves the labor-intensive synthesis and construction of peptide-MHC tetramers. We adapt single-chain trimer (SCT) technologies into a high throughput platform for pMHC library generation, showing that hundreds can be rapidly prepared across multiple Class I HLA alleles. We use this platform to explore the impact of peptide and SCT template mutations on protein expression yield, thermal stability, and functionality. SCT libraries were an efficient tool for identifying T cells recognizing commonly reported viral epitopes. We then construct SCT libraries to capture SARS-CoV-2 specific CD8+ T cells from COVID-19 participants and healthy donors. The immunogenicity of these epitopes is validated by functional assays of T cells with cloned TCRs captured using SCT libraries. These technologies should enable the rapid analyses of peptide-based T cell responses across several contexts, including autoimmunity, cancer, or infectious disease.

Clinical Institute

Cancer

Specialty/Research Institute

Oncology

Specialty/Research Institute

Infectious Diseases

DOI

10.1038/s42003-023-04899-8

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