Individualized genotyping of the adaptive immune system
The greatest genetic diversity between any two individuals is found in the components of the immune system. These differences influence individual susceptibility to pathogens and our response to vaccinations, and play critical roles in the development of autoimmune diseases and cancer.
Challenges
Due to the complexity of the genomic regions encompassing many immune genes, standard whole genome sequencing (WGS) approaches are insufficient to resolve genetic variation in these loci and comparative studies in cohorts of interest are so far lacking. To overcome this challenge, technical solutions specifically designed for adaptive immune receptor genotyping, which can be applied in a high throughput manner, are needed.
Solutions
We have developed proprietary technologies that allow precise definition of adaptive immune gene variants, including B cell receptor (BCR) heavy and light chain genes, T cell receptor (TCR) alpha, beta, gamma and delta genes, and MHC class I and II genes. The process enables simultaneous and rapid analysis of up to several thousand samples, allowing individualized genotyping in cohorts of interest. Importantly, we have developed set of bioinformatic tools to enable the subsequent statistical analyses of the data produced.
Applications
Adaptive immune gene profiling by ImmuneDiscover offers a powerful approach to study the human immune system. Disease and vaccination cohorts can be analyzed in their entirety including individualized and comparative analysis. The knowledge gained will lead to the development of new diagnostics and accelerate the development of targeted therapeutic and prophylactic medical interventions in the fields of autoimmunity, oncology and infectious diseases.