Characterization of T cell receptor repertoire associated with the survival of hepatocellular carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common hepatic malignancy worldwide. Since Tumor-infiltrating T cells has been demonstrated to be closely associated with prognosis of HCC, characterization of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire may be a biomarker for predicting survival differences.Methods: In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing technology to systematically analyze the TCR repertoires in tumor tissues obtained from 23 long-survivors and 8 short-survivors diagnosed with HCC.Results: The TCR composition in HCC long-survivors was found to be less diverse than in the short-survivors. In addition, in the context of V and J gene segments, long-survivors showed significantly higher usage of TRBJ1-3, TRBV10-1, TRBV15 and TRBV6-5, and lower usage of TRBJ2-2. Principal component analysis (PCA) could clearly discriminate short- and long-survivors.Conclusion: Our results could serve as a complement for the characterization of TCR repertoire in HCC. And the survival-related TCR genes might have value in developing prognostic biomarkers and antigen-specific immunotherapies.