Publications
bioRxivMay 2023 DOI:
10.1101/2023.05.16.540992

T-FINDER: A highly sensitive, pan-HLA platform for functional T cell receptor and ligand discovery

Schmid, Theresa; Cetin, Miray; Pinamonti, Veronica; Fuentes, Ana Mellado; Kromer, Kristina; Lerner, Taga; Zhang, Jing; Boschert, Tamara; Herzig, Yonatan; Ehlert, Christopher; Fisch, Laura; Dragan, Valeriia; Kouwenhoven, Arlette; Schoubroeck, Bertrand Van; Wils, Hans; Hove, Carl Van; Platten, Michael; Green, Edward; Stevenaert, Frederik; Felix, Nathan J.; Lindner, John M.
Product Used
Genes
Abstract
Effective, unbiased, high-throughput methods to functionally identify both class II and class I HLA-presented T cell epitopes and their cognate T cell receptors (TCRs) are essential for and prerequisite to diagnostic and therapeutic applications, yet remain underdeveloped. Addressing this bottleneck, we established T-FINDER (T cell Functional Identification and (Neo)-antigen Discovery of Epitopes and Receptors), a platform that rapidly deconvolutes CD4 and CD8 TCR reactivities to targets physiologically processed and presented by an individual’s unmanipulated, complete HLA haplotype. By using a highly sensitive TCR signaling reporter capable of detecting even low-affinity TCR:ligand interactions, T-FINDER not only robustly identifies unknown peptide:HLA ligands from complex antigen libraries, but also rapidly screens and functionally validates the specificity of complex TCR libraries against known or predicted targets. To demonstrate its pan-HLA presentation capacity, we apply the platform to multiple TCR-based applications, including glioma, celiac disease, and rheumatoid arthritis, providing unique biological insights and showcasing T-FINDER’s potency and versatility.
Product Used
Genes

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