High diversity of the T-cell receptor repertoire of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in basal cell carcinoma

Whether specific T-cell clones are present in tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in BCC is unknown. We employed deep sequencing of mRNA coding for the T-cell receptor (TCR) chains α- and β to characterize the repertoire of TILs in BCC. V and J gene-usage and CDR3 length were computed to determine the clonality of TCR and degree of overlap in TCR repertoires between skin resident T-cells and TILs. We found high diversity of the TCR repertoire in BCC and control skin with random V-J gene usage and similar CDR3-length distribution. Lack of TCR repertoire restriction indicates absence of tumor-specific TIL clones in BCC.