Single-cell RNA sequencing analyses : interference by the genes that encode the B-cell and T-cell receptors

B and T cells are integral parts of the immune system and are implicated in many diseases, e.g. autoimmunity. Towards understanding the biology of B and T cells and subsets thereof, their transcriptomes can be analyzed using single-cell RNA sequencing. In some studies, the V(D)J transcripts encoding the variable regions of the B- and T-cell antigen receptors have been removed before the analyses. However, a systematic analysis of the effects of including versus excluding these genes is currently lacking. We have investigated the effects of these transcripts on unsupervised clustering and down-stream analyses of single-cell RNA sequencing data from B and T cells. We found that exclusion of the B-/T-cell receptor genes prior to unsupervised clustering resulted in clusters that represented biologically meaningful subsets, such as subsets of memory B and memory T cells. Furthermore, pseudo-time and trajectory inference analyses of early B-lineage cells resulted in a developmental pathway from progenitor to immature B cells. In contrast, when the B-/T-cell receptor genes were not removed, with the PCs used for clustering consisting of up to 70% V-genes, this resulted in some clusters being defined exclusively by V-gene segments. These did not represent biologically meaningful subsets; for instance in the early B-lineage cells, these clusters contained cells representing all developmental stages. Thus, in studies of B and T cells, to derive biologically meaningful results, it is imperative to remove the gene sequences that encode B- and T-cell receptors.
CC BY-NC 4.0Corresponding author: Inga-Lill Mårtensson, Department of Rheumatology and Inflammation Research, Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. Tel.:+46(0)703640068; E-mail: lill.martensson@rheuma.gu.seThis work was supported by the Swedish Research Council, grants 2018-03128 and 2021-01150 (ILM) and 2016-01576 (IG); the Swedish Cancer Foundation, grant 19 0464 (ILM); the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund, grants PR2018-0170 and PR2020-0147 (ILM), and TJ2019-0098 (AC); Assar Gabrielsson’s Foundation, FB21-104 (AC); Patient Association for Rheumatic Diseases, R-94129 (ILM) and R-940945 (IG); ALF (agreement between the Government of Sweden and the County Councils), ALFGBG-719631 (IG); Adlerbertska stiftelsen (TS); and the IngaBritt och Arne Lundbergs Foundation (ILM, IG)