Since T- and B-cells work synergistically in the adaptive immune response, we have designed an assay that profiles both T-cell receptor (TCR) and B-cell receptor (BCR) repertoires in a single convenient reaction. Separate assays specific for T- or B-cell chains are also available.
The DriverMap AIR-RNA assay quantifies T-cell and B-cell receptor transcripts. Assaying expression of the immune receptors from either the CDR3 OR the full-length receptor region enables highly sensitive detection of low-frequency, rare TCR and BCR clonotypes, and more comprehensive profiling when working with small samples and limited numbers of cells. Fig. 1 shows that the DriverMap AIR-RNA assay can detect all seven TCR and BCR chains from a single sample of RNA.
The DriverMap AIR-DNA assay amplifies receptor genes directly from genomic DNA. The AIR-DNA assay provides a more quantitative measurement of the genetic copies for each CDR3-specific clonotype which correlates to the number of cells with that clonotype in the sample. This data enables the measurement of clonal expansion in T and B cells.
Combining data obtained from both the AIR-DNA and AIR-RNA assays enables the assessment of both transcriptional activation and number of cells with a particular clonotype. The ability to differentiate these two effects provides a quantitative basis for detecting antigen-activated clonotypes. For example, it is evident from the data in Fig. 2, that particular TRB clonotypes, even when present in only a small portion of the cells in a population, can be highly up-regulated.
All 7 TCR and BCR Chains Identified from a Single Sample of RNA
Fig 1: Number of clonotypes for 7 TCR/BCR chains identified in 50 ng of normal PBMC or whole blood RNA (10x10^6 reads per sample, triplicates).
Detection of Cancer-Activated CDR3 Clones 
Fig. 2: The red intensity of each line in the paired heat maps shows the detection level of each TCR or BCR clonotype in each sample with the DriverMap AIR-RNA (R) and a competitor DNA (D) assay. By comparing the normalized level of clonotype expression as measured by the AIR-RNA assay with the frequency of each clonotype in the population as measured by the DNA-based assay, it is evident that 5-10% of the clones (indicated by green brackets) are strongly up-regulated even when they are only weakly detected at the DNA level, indicating they are not highly represented in the population.