Publication: Computational detection of antigen-specific B cell receptors following immunization.

Publié dans: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024 Aug; 121(35): e2401058121

Auteurs: Abbate MF, Dupic T, Vigne E, Shahsavarian MA, Walczak AM, Mora T

Résumé

B cell receptors (BCRs) play a crucial role in recognizing and fighting foreign antigens. High-throughput sequencing enables in-depth sampling of the BCRs repertoire after immunization. However, only a minor fraction of BCRs actively participate in any given infection. To what extent can we accurately identify antigen-specific sequences directly from BCRs repertoires? We present a computational method grounded on sequence similarity, aimed at identifying statistically significant responsive BCRs. This method leverages well-known characteristics of affinity maturation and expected diversity. We validate its effectiveness using longitudinally sampled human immune repertoire data following influenza vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infections. We show that different lineages converge to the same responding Complementarity Determining Region 3, demonstrating convergent selection within an individual. The outcomes of this method hold promise for application in vaccine development, personalized medicine, and antibody-derived therapeutics.

Lien vers Pubmed [PMID] – 39163333

Lien vers le DOI – 10.1073/pnas.2401058121