Time-resolved assessment of single-cell protein secretion by sequencing

Abstract

Secreted proteins play critical roles in cellular communication. Methods enabling concurrent measurement of cellular protein secretion, phenotypes and transcriptomes are still unavailable. Here we describe time-resolved assessment of protein secretion from single cells by sequencing (TRAPS-seq). Released proteins are trapped onto the cell surface and probed by oligonucleotide-barcoded antibodies before being simultaneously sequenced with transcriptomes in single cells. We demonstrate that TRAPS-seq helps unravel the phenotypic and transcriptional determinants of the secretion of pleiotropic T_H1 cytokines (IFNγ, IL-2 and TNF) in activated T cells. In addition, we show that TRAPS-seq can be used to track the secretion of multiple cytokines over time, uncovering unique molecular signatures that govern the dynamics of single-cell cytokine secretions. Our results revealed that early central memory T cells with CD45RA expression (T_CMRA) are important in both the production and maintenance of polyfunctional cytokines. TRAPS-seq presents a unique tool for seamless integration of secretomics measurements with multi-omics profiling in single cells.