A Conserved TCRβ Signature Dominates a Highly Polyclonal T-Cell Expansion During the Acute Phase of a Murine Malaria Infection

CD4(+) αβ T-cells are key mediators of the immune response to a first Plasmodium infection, undergoing extensive activation and splenic expansion during the acute phase of an infection. However, the clonality and clonal composition of this expansion has not previously been described. Using a comparative infection model, we sequenced the splenic CD4(+) T-cell receptor repertoires generated over the time-course of a Plasmodium chabaudi infection. We show through repeat replicate experiments, single-cell RNA-seq, and analyses of independent RNA-seq data, that following a first infection - within a highly polyclonal expansion - T-effector repertoires are consistently dominated by TRBV3 gene usage. Clustering by sequence similarity, we find the same dominant clonal signature is expanded across replicates in the acute phase of an infection, revealing a conserved pathogen-specific T-cell response that is consistently a hallmark of a first infection, but not expanded upon re-challenge. Determining the host or parasite factors driving this conserved response may uncover novel immune targets for malaria therapeutic purposes.