Early fate bias and TCR sequence shape CD8+ T cell differentiation and expansion.

In acute LCMV Armstrong infection, early central memory precursor frequency predicts which CD8+ T cell clones become memory-dominant, rather than early clonal dominance.

• Why it matters: It has been unclear whether CD8+ T cell fate choices are stochastic or shaped by TCR features, because tracking many diverse clones over time is difficult.
• What they did: Using single-cell RNA and TCR sequencing, the authors showed blood clonal distributions match lymphoid organs for nonlethal longitudinal tracking, then traced hundreds of clones and applied a TCR distance algorithm.
• The result: Memory clonal distribution is uncoupled from early dominance, while early central memory precursor frequency predicts memory dominance; TCR motifs linked to enhanced expansion and effector-biased transcriptional programs were identified.

AI summary of the abstract · may contain errors · not medical advice · read the paper.