TCR/BCR repertoire sequencing in the conjunctival associated lymphoid tissue from trachoma longitudinal studies

Chlamydia trachomatis is the world's leading infectious cause of blindness. The clinical sign of trachoma is the presence of lymphoid follicles on the upper conjunctiva. These are germinal centers that can easily be sampled by swab and provides access to the local adaptive immune response. The immune response in trachoma can be responsible for both protection and scarring. The proposed approach is to make use of ocular swab samples archived from a cohort of Tanzanian children followed over an 8-year period. By deep sequencing of conjunctival RNA, I will investigate the receptor repertoire of T and B cells associated with susceptibility or resistance to trachoma. The results of this work has the potential to contribute toward vaccine evaluation by identifying whether the repertoire in naturally exposed individuals overlaps with that recently defined from C. trachomatis-vaccine recipients (CTH522) and that of adult trachoma community cases and controls.