Abstract
Whereas pathogen-specific T and B cells are a primary focus of interest during infectious disease, we have used COVID-19 to ask whether their emergence comes at a cost of broader B cell and T cell repertoire disruption. We applied a genomic DNA-based approach to concurrently study the immunoglobulin-heavy (IGH) and T cell receptor (TCR) β and δ chain loci of 95 individuals. Our approach detected anticipated repertoire focusing for the IGH repertoire, including expansions of clusters of related sequences temporally aligned with SARS-CoV-2-specific seroconversion, and enrichment of some shared SARS-CoV-2-associated sequences. No significant age-related or disease severity-related deficiencies were noted for the IGH repertoire. By contrast, whereas focusing occurred at the TCRβ and TCRδ loci, including some TCRβ sequence-sharing, disruptive repertoire narrowing was almost entirely limited to many patients aged older than 50 y. By temporarily reducing T cell diversity and by risking expansions of nonbeneficial T cells, these traits may constitute an age-related risk factor for COVID-19, including a vulnerability to new variants for which T cells may provide key protection.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; adaptive immune responses; antigen-receptor repertoires; immunoPETE; next-generation sequencing.
【저자키워드】 SARS-CoV-2, next-generation sequencing., adaptive immune responses, antigen-receptor repertoires, immunoPETE, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, adaptive, T cells, disease severity, variant, Infectious disease, risk factor, immune, Antigen, B cell, T cell, Seroconversion, pathogen, Immunoglobulin, immune responses, vulnerability, Next-generation sequencing, Patient, Cluster, genomic, TCR, T cell receptor, disease, deficiency, Older, primary focus, enrichment, sequence, loci, Genomic DNA, approach, occurred, applied, reducing, individuals, pathogen-specific, aligned, anticipated, IGH, 【제목키워드】 COVID-19, adaptive, immune, receptor,