tcr-pmhc-analyzer 0.1.1

Analyzer for TCR-pMHC binding predictor outputs

tcr-pmhc-analyzer

Analyzer for TCR-pMHC binding predictor outputs. Merges predictions from multiple models into a unified table, detects data leakage against bundled training sets, identifies seen/unseen peptides, and benchmarks model performance via ROC curves.

Installation

pip install tcr-pmhc-analyzer

For development:

git clone https://github.com/qbic-pipelines/tcr-pmhc-analyzer.git
cd tcr-pmhc-analyzer
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Input format

Both commands accept a TSV configuration file with two required columns:

Column	Description
model	Name of the prediction model
file	Path to the model's prediction output

Example input.tsv:

model	file
ergo2	results/ergo2_predictions.csv
mixtcrpred	results/mixtcrpred_predictions.csv
t2pmhc-gcn	results/t2pmhc_gcn_predictions.csv

Each prediction file must contain the following columns:

Column	Description
identifier	Unique sample identifier (used for merging)
binding_score	Model's predicted binding score
binder	Ground truth label (0/1), required for benchmarking
peptide	Peptide sequence
cdr3a	CDR3 alpha chain sequence
cdr3b	CDR3 beta chain sequence
va, vb	V gene alpha/beta
ja, jb	J gene alpha/beta
mhc	MHC allele
organism	Source organism
mhc_class	MHC class

Commands

create-analyzer-table

Merges predictions from multiple models into a single table with rank-normalized scores, data leakage annotations, and seen-peptide flags.

tcr-pmhc-analyzer create-analyzer-table [OPTIONS]

Option	Short	Required	Description
--input PATH	-i	Yes	Path to TSV config file with model and file columns
--output PATH	-o	Yes	Output file path (.csv or .tsv)
--ergo-version		If ergo2	ERGO training data version: vdjdb or mcpas

Example:

tcr-pmhc-analyzer create-analyzer-table \
  -i input.tsv \
  -o analyzer_table.csv \
  --ergo-version vdjdb

Output columns added:

• binding_score_{model} — raw binding score per model
• rank_score_{model} — rank-normalized score in [0, 1] (1 = highest)
• sample_in_train_{model} — True if the sample appears in the model's training data (data leakage)
• seen_in_{model} — True if the peptide was seen in the model's training data

benchmark

Generates ROC curve plots comparing model performance, split by seen vs unseen peptides. Data leakage samples are automatically removed before analysis.

tcr-pmhc-analyzer benchmark [OPTIONS]

Option	Short	Required	Description
--input PATH	-i	*	Path to TSV config file with model and file columns
--table PATH		*	Path to a pre-created analyzer table (alternative to --input)
--output PATH	-o	Yes	Output directory for ROC curve plots
--ergo-version		If ergo2	ERGO training data version: vdjdb or mcpas
--models	-m	No	Space-separated list of models to benchmark (default: all available)

* Either --input or --table must be provided.

Examples:

# Benchmark from raw predictions
tcr-pmhc-analyzer benchmark -i input.tsv -o results/

# Benchmark from a pre-created analyzer table
tcr-pmhc-analyzer benchmark --table analyzer_table.csv -o results/

# Benchmark specific models only
tcr-pmhc-analyzer benchmark -i input.tsv -o results/ -m "ergo2 mixtcrpred tabr-bert"

Output files:

• roc_curve_unseen.png — ROC curves for peptides unseen by all selected models
• roc_curve_seen.png — ROC curves for peptides seen by all selected models

Supported models

Model	Training data
ergo2	mcpas or vdjdb (specify with --ergo-version)
mixtcrpred	146 pMHC training set
t2pmhc-gcn	t2pmhc core training set
t2pmhc-gat	t2pmhc core training set
tabr-bert	TCR-pMHC training set
tulip-tcr	TULIP training set
atm-tcr	ATM-TCR training set

How it works

1. Merge: Prediction outputs from multiple models are merged on the identifier column into a single DataFrame.
2. Rank normalization: Each model's binding_score is rank-normalized to [0, 1] using descending order with average tie-breaking. NaN values are preserved.
3. Data leakage detection: Each sample is checked against bundled training data to flag samples that appear in a model's training set.
4. Seen peptide detection: Each peptide is checked against training data to identify whether it was seen during model training.
5. Benchmarking: ROC curves are generated after removing leaked samples, separately for seen and unseen peptides.

Citations

If you use tcr-pmhc-analyzer in your research, please cite the underlying prediction models:

ATM-TCR

Cai, M. et al. (2022). ATM-TCR: TCR-Epitope Binding Affinity Prediction Using a Multi-Head Self-Attention Model. Frontiers in Immunology, 13, 893247. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.893247

ERGO-II

Springer, I. et al. (2021). Contribution of T Cell Receptor Alpha and Beta CDR3, MHC Typing, V and J Genes to Peptide Binding Prediction. Frontiers in Immunology, 12, 664514. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.664514

MIXTCRpred

Croce, G. et al. (2024). Deep learning predictions of TCR-epitope interactions reveal epitope-specific chains in dual alpha T cells. Nature Communications, 15, 3211. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47461-8

t2pmhc

Polster, M. et al. (2026). t2pmhc: A Structure-Informed Graph Neural Network to Predict TCR-pMHC Binding. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.02.27.708137

TABR-BERT

Zhang, J. et al. (2024). Accurate TCR-pMHC interaction prediction using a BERT-based transfer learning method. Briefings in Bioinformatics, 25(1), bbad436. https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbad436

TULIP

Meynard-Piganeau, B. et al. (2024). TULIP — a Transformer-based Unsupervised Language model for Interacting Peptides and T-cell receptors that generalizes to unseen epitopes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(13). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2316401121

License

MIT