Immune receptor repertoire profiling in HIV-1 elite controllers and individuals with progressive disease

While cellular immune responses in ECs have been extensively studied, less is known about how B-cell and T-cell receptor repertoires relate to spontaneous control versus progressive disease. In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 27 ART-naïve individuals with HIV-1 infection, including elite controllers (ECs, n = 7), typical progressors (TPs, n = 10) and rapid progressors (RPs, n = 10).

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated at the time of diagnosis, and immune receptor repertoires were generated from total RNA using 5′-RACE-based library preparation for immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) and T-cell receptor β chain (TRB). Libraries were sequenced on Illumina platforms in paired-end mode, and clonotype-level IGH and TRB repertoires were reconstructed, annotated and analysed for CDR3 length distributions, V(D)J gene and gene-combination usage, clonotype sharing, and diversity indices.