A direct estimate of the human αβ T cell receptor diversity

TP Arstila, A Casrouge, V Baron, J Even… - Science, 1999 - science.org
TP Arstila, A Casrouge, V Baron, J Even, J Kanellopoulos, P Kourilsky
Science, 1999science.org
Generation and maintenance of an effective repertoire of T cell antigen receptors are
essential to the immune system, yet the number of distinct T cell receptors (TCRs) expressed
by the estimated 1012 T cells in the human body is not known. In this study, TCR gene
amplification and sequencing showed that there are about 106 different β chains in the
blood, each pairing, on the average, with at least 25 different α chains. In the memory
subset, the diversity decreased to 1× 105 to 2× 105 different β chains, each pairing with only …
Generation and maintenance of an effective repertoire of T cell antigen receptors are essential to the immune system, yet the number of distinct T cell receptors (TCRs) expressed by the estimated 1012 T cells in the human body is not known. In this study, TCR gene amplification and sequencing showed that there are about 106 different β chains in the blood, each pairing, on the average, with at least 25 different α chains. In the memory subset, the diversity decreased to 1 × 105 to 2 × 105 different β chains, each pairing with only a single α chain. Thus, the naı̈ve repertoire is highly diverse, whereas the memory compartment, here one-third of the T cell population, contributes less than 1 percent of the total diversity.
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