Profiling the TRB and IGH repertoire of patients with H5N6 Avian Influenza Virus Infection by high-throughput sequencing

Avian Influenza A (H5N6) Virus causes severe influenza disease in humans and is manifested by acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ failure, and high mortality rates. T cells recognize antigens specifically through a membrane protein T cell receptor (TCR). To ward off a wide variety of pathogens, the human adaptive immune system harbors a vast array of TCRs, which are collectively referred to as the TCR repertoire. The B cell receptor (BCR) is involved in inducing the humoral immune response. The generation of a diverse T cell and B cell repertoire is essential for protection against infection. In this study, multiplex PCR based on genomic DNA amplicons and Illumina high-throughput sequencing (HTS) were applied to study the characteristics and polymorphisms of the TRB and IGH repertoire in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from two H5N6 AIV patients and six healthy donors (NC). The CDR3 average length in the AIV group was different from the NC group. The TRBV12-3, TRBV12-4, and TRBV15 gene segments and TRBV30/TRBJ1-2, TRBV12-3/TRBJ1-1 and IGHV3-11/IGHJ6 gene segment pairings also exhibited a higher usage in the PBMCs of AIV donors and may provide more information for generating more effective T/B cell targeted diagnosis/protection strategies.