TGen study uses AlphaFold 3 to predict immune recognition from sequences

TGen researchers demonstrated an AlphaFold 3 approach that predicts whether a T cell receptor recognizes a particular antigen using genetic sequences alone. The study, published in Science Advances, reports performance better than chance on a task the researchers described as previously comparable to random guessing. The approach models how a receptor fits a molecular display carrying an antigen fragment. Researchers tested known structures before examining previously uncharacterized complexes, including eight tuberculosis-derived MHC class II-antigen pairs. Further validation is needed before the approach can support faster immune-target selection for vaccine and cancer research.