BIAS IN T-CELL RECEPTOR USAGE IN HUMAN IN FLAMMATORY SKIN DISEASES

The pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases is st ill not understood. The hypothesis that a bias in the T cell receptor repertoire could explain the suceptibility of some individuals to a pa rticular disease was recently proposed on the basis of results obtaine d in animal models of human diseases. In this review, we focus on the structure of the T cell receptor and on the new insights in the study of the T cell repertoire in human inflammatory diseases, with special emphasis to skin disorders.