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

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. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13258-022-01261-w.