T cells express T cell receptors (TCRs) composed of somatically recombined TCRα and TCRβ chains, which mediate recognition of major histocompatibility complex (MHC)–antigen complexes and drive the antigen-specific adaptive immune response to pathogens and cancer. The TCR repertoire in each individual is highly diverse, which allows for recognition of a wide array of foreign antigens, but also presents a challenge in analyzing this response using conventional methods. Recent studies have developed high-throughput sequencing technologies to identify TCR sequences, analyze their antigen specificities using experimental and computational tools, and pair TCRs with transcriptional and epigenetic cell state phenotypes in single cells. In this Review, we highlight these technological advances and describe how they have been applied to discover fundamental insights into T cell-mediated immunity.

T 细胞表达由体细胞重组的 TCRα 和 TCRβ 链组成的 T 细胞受体 (TCR)，它介导对主要组织相容性复合物 (MHC)-抗原复合物的识别，并驱动针对病原体和癌症的抗原特异性适应性免疫反应。每个人的 TCR 库都是高度多样化的，这允许识别各种各样的外来抗原，但也对使用传统方法分析这种反应提出了挑战。最近的研究开发了高通量测序技术来识别 TCR 序列，使用实验和计算工具分析它们的抗原特异性，并将 TCR 与单细胞中的转录和表观遗传细胞状态表型配对。在这篇评论中，