TCR_Explore: a novel webtool for T cell receptor repertoire analysis

Abstract

T cells expressing either alpha-beta or gamma-delta T cell receptors (TCR) are critical sentinels of the adaptive immune system, with receptor diversity being essential for protective immunity against a broad array of pathogens and agents. Programs available to profile TCR clonotypic signatures can be limiting for users with no coding expertise. Current analytical pipelines can be inefficient due to manual processing steps, open to data transcription errors and have multiple analytical tools with unique inputs that require coding expertise. Here we present a bespoke webtool designed for users irrespective of coding expertise, coined TCR_Explore, incorporating automated quality control steps that generates a single output file for creation of flexible and publication ready figures. TCR_Explore will elevate a users capacity to undertake in-depth TCR repertoire analysis of both new and pre-existing datasets for identification of T cell clonotypes associated with health and disease. The web application is located at https://tcr-explore.erc.monash.edu for users to interactively explore TCR repertoire datasets. Key PointsO_LIBespoke program for non-specialists in computerised methodologies for deep exploration of TCR repertoire analysis C_LIO_LIAutomated QC and analysis pipelines for Sanger based TCR sequencing coupled with immunophenotyping, with the capacity for integration of other sequencing platform outputs C_LIO_LIAutomated summary processes to aid data visualisation and generation of publication-ready graphical displays C_LI