High-throughput identification of immunogenic B and T cell epitopes meets deep immune cell phenotyping

Identifying the major antigenic determinants mediating an immune response and their cognate immune repertoires is of utmost importance for the development of vaccines and immunotherapies. The synergy of humoral, B-cell-mediated antibody responses, and T-cell-mediated cellular responses might be the key to success in both areas.

Applying high-density peptide microarrays combined with state-of-the-art ELISpot analyses discovered a highly immunogenic B- and T-cell overlapping epitope derived from the EBNA-1. TCR repertoire analysis highlighted specific highly conserved motifs, signing a restricted clonotypic stimulation. Spectratyping analysis was carried to further examine the CD3 regions of tetramer positive T-Cells.

The presented approach allows the discovery of TCR sequences that can be used as biomarkers and/or potential therapeutics for infectious diseases, vaccine development, and for cell therapies. The combination of PEPperPRINT T-cell activation assays and Parean T-cell repertoire tools are complementary to decipher the TCR in immune response. This approach can be transferred to any other applications for e.g. vaccine development or cancer research.