T-CELL REPERTOIRE DIVERSITY AND CLONAL EXPANSIONS IN NORMAL AND CLINICAL-SAMPLES

Improved polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods now permit a mo re in-depth analysis of the repertoire of T cells recovered in biologi cal samples from mice and humans. At a certain level of resolution, th e diversity of the T-cell repertoire can be readily estimated and clon al expansions become easily detectable. As discussed here by Christoph e Pannetier, Jos Even and Philippe Kourilsky, these improvements allow a better appreciation of the degree of reproducibility of immune resp onses, both in mice and humans, and should have a significant impact o n clinical investigations.