A new cloning and expression system yields and validates TCRs from blood lymphocytes of patients with cancer within 10 days.

Progress in T cell receptor (TCR) gene therapy has been hampered by the lack of a rapid and efficient screening system for antigen-specific TCRs. Here, Kobayashi et al. have developed a direct single-cell TCR cloning system for cloning antigen-specific TCRs from peripheral blood in 10 d. The approach is used to clone and analyze Epstein-Barr virus–specific TCRs from healthy donors with latent Epstein-Barr virus infection, as well as TCRs from peptide-vaccinated patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.