Follicular T Cells are Clonally and Transcriptionally Distinct in B Cell-Driven Autoimmune Disease

To better understand the role of follicular T cells in autoantibody-mediated disease, we performed single cell RNA and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing of follicular T cells in a mouse model of autoantibody-mediated disease. This repository provides paired transcriptomes and unbiased TCRab repertoires from sorted CD4+CXCR5+PD1+ follicular T cells at single cell resolution. Our analysis revealed that a minority of clonotypes are preferentially shared amongst autoimmune follicular T cells, and clonotypic expansion is associated with differential gene signatures in autoimmune disease. These data provide insight into the phenotypic differences of follicular T cells in B cell-driven autoimmune disease versus foreign immunization. scRNA-seq and scTCR-seq was performed on 10 bone marrow chimeras (5 controls and 5 autoimmune mice)