Published in Nature Reviews Immunology, the review brings together established and emerging technologies that are transforming researchers' ability to identify and analyse antigen-specific T cells at unprecedented resolution. It also examines the technical challenges and limitations of current approaches.
These advances are providing new insights into how antigen-specific T cells develop, function and respond during infection, cancer and autoimmune disease.
The authors also discuss how integrating epitope specificity, T cell receptor (TCR) usage and functional profiles across blood and tissues is reshaping our understanding of T cell immunity. They emphasise that comprehensive annotation of paired TCRαβ sequences with defined antigen specificities will be essential for advancing computational analyses and developing predictive models of T cell recognition.
For further details, read the full article in Nature Reviews Immunology: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-026-01331-0)
The original article appeared on the CAMS Oxford Institute website.