Tool Developed for Immune Cell Receptor Mapping in Human Tissue

In a paper published in Science, Swedish researchers unveiled a novel method capable of identifying unique immune cell receptors and pinpointing their locations within human tissue. According to the team, Spatial VDJ (spatial transcriptomics for variable, diversity, and joining sequences) is poised to significantly enhance the identification of immune cells contributing to disease processes and facilitate the development of innovative therapies for a myriad of illnesses.

The recently published study focused on T and B cells, which express distinct receptors recognizing various unwanted elements, including bacteria, viruses, and tumors. With billions of immune cells boasting unique receptors within each human body, the challenge lay in identifying these receptors and their locations simultaneously.

“Identifying these unique immune receptors is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, especially when it comes to autoimmune diseases,” explains Jeff Mold, one of the principal investigators on the study. “With most current methods, you destroy the tissue, which means not only that you get different immune cells mixed up, but also that some cells die in the process. With this method, we preserve the cells where they are and we can see cells that would otherwise have been lost.”

Dr. Mold believes that the ability to identify B cells is arguably the main benefit of this new method. “T cells have been a popular research target, while the B cells have been a little overlooked, especially in cancer,” he says. “But now we can track how B cells develop and expand direct in tissue.”

The potential applications of this technique are vast. In cancer, it can identify T cells with the potential to combat tumors, paving the way for cell therapy against cancer. Additionally, the method can pinpoint unique receptors on B cells releasing antibodies in specific tumor areas, potentially leading to the development of novel therapies. In autoimmune diseases, where the immune system attacks healthy tissue, the technique can identify the culprit immune cells, improving the chances of understanding the targeted tissues.