Scientists identify T-cells that fight special targets

Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have devised a way to identify T-cells with specific targets, and by sequencing high-throughput single-cell RNA, the authors were able to determine the gene expression of a cell at a given time, revealing the unique function of T-cellsIn the new study, researchers used the technique to identify particular inflammatory T-cells in patients with peanut allergies(photo source:researchers use this method to study the characteristics of a patient's T-cells for peanut allergy, which in turn can help develop specific therapies and determine whether the treatment is effective for a particular patientSuch studies can also help guide researchers in developing and testing new therapiesresults were published recently in the journal Nature ImmunologyThe paper is synod by graduate student Ang Andy Tu and postdoctoral student Todd Gierahnresearchers' new approach builds on a technique they have developed in their previous work that can quickly sequence single-cellRNA on a large number of cellsBy sequencing messenger RNA, scientists can discover genes expressed at a given time, allowing them to understand the function of individual cellsrna sequencing on immune cells such as T cells is of great interest because T cells play many different roles in the immune responseHowever, previous sequencing studies have been unable to pinpoint T-cell populations that react to specific targets or antigensThis is determined by the sequence characteristics of the T-cell receptor (TCR)Single-cell RNA sequencing typically marks and sequences only one end of each RNA molecule, and most of the variation in the T-cell receptor gene is at the other end of the sequence, so conventional sequencing means cannot identify these differences" For a long time , people have been using this traditional method to analyze T-cells and their transcriptome characteristics , but cannot determine the receptor information of T-cellsin a single T cell, the RNA encoding T cell receptors is less than 1% of the total RNA of the cell, so the MIT team proposed a way to amplify these specific RNA molecules and then "pull" them out of the total sampleEach RNA molecule is labeled with a bar code to reveal the source of its cells, so researchers can match the target of The T-cell to its RNA expressionThis allows them to determine which genes are active in t-cell populations that target specific antigens "To understand the function of T-cells, it is necessary to understand the target information of their receptor serecognized." We developed this method to take advantage of the existing single-cell RNA sequencing library and extract the relevant sequences that we want to characterize Another advantage of the technology, the researchers say, is that it doesn't require expensive chemicals, relies on equipment already in many labs and can be applied to many previously processed samples in the article, the researchers demonstrated that after vaccinating mice against HPV, the technique could be used to select mouse T-cells that are active against HPV They found that while all of these T-cells responded to the virus, they had different TCR and were in different stages of development: some of the T-cells were activated to kill the infected cells, while others focused on growth and division then, the researchers analyzed T-cells in four peanut-allergic patients After exposing cells to peanut allergens, they were able to identify T-cells that were active in those allergens They also showed which subgroups of T-cells were most active, and found that some inflammatory cytokines were producing those commonly associated with allergic reactions "We can now start layering the data to reveal what is most important to the cells that previously could not be identified by RNA sequencing alone." Source: TechniqueS T Cells Primed for certainries or allergies Source: Ang A Tu, Todd M Gierahn, Brinda Monian, Duncan M Morgan, Naveen K Mehta, Bert Ruiter, Wayne G Shreffler, Alex K Shalek, J Christopher Love TCR sadie god with massively parallel 3' RNA-seq reveals clonotypic T cell cell signatures Nature Immunology, 2019; 20 (12): 1692 DOI: 10.1038/s41590-019-0544-5 original title: Nat Ayall: Identification of T-cells against special targets