Overlap and effective size of the human CD8+ T cell receptor repertoire

• Published in: Science translational medicine Vol. 2; no. 47; p. 47ra64
• Main Authors: Robins, Harlan S, Srivastava, Santosh K, Campregher, Paulo V, Turtle, Cameron J, Andriesen, Jessica, Riddell, Stanley R, Carlson, Christopher S, Warren, Edus H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.09.2010
• Subjects: Adult; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Complementarity Determining Regions - genetics; Complementarity Determining Regions - immunology; Female; HLA Antigens - immunology; Humans; Immunologic Memory; Male; Middle Aged; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - genetics; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - immunology; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1946-6242
• DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3001442

Diversity in T lymphocyte antigen receptors is generated by somatic rearrangement of T cell receptor (TCR) genes and is concentrated within the third complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) of each chain of the TCR heterodimer. We sequenced the CDR3 regions from millions of rearranged TCR beta chain genes in naïve and memory CD8(+) T cells of seven adults. The CDR3 sequence repertoire realized in each individual is strongly biased toward specific V(beta)-J(beta) pair utilization, dominated by sequences containing few inserted nucleotides, and drawn from a defined subset comprising less than 0.1% of the estimated 5 x 10(11) possible sequences. Surprisingly, the overlap in the naïve CD8(+) CDR3 sequence repertoires of any two of the individuals is approximately 7000-fold larger than predicted and appears to be independent of the degree of human leukocyte antigen matching.