Abstract
Analysis of immune reconstitution is of major importance in clinical settings such as following bone marrow transplantation or during anti-retroviral treatment of HIV-infected patients. In these patients, thymic function is essential for the reconstitution of a diversified T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. During thymopoiesis, several genetic rearrangements lead to the generation of fully functional TCR. By-products of these processes, the T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs), are present in cells exported from the thymus but do not replicate during mitosis; they can thus be used as molecular markers for recent thymic emigrants. We demonstrate how thymic function can be assessed in a quantitative and noninvasive fashion in humans by estimating intrathymic precursor T-cell proliferation through the quantification of distinct TREC molecules in peripheral blood cells.
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Dion, ML., Sékaly, RP., Cheynier, R. (2007). Estimating Thymic Function Through Quantification of T-Cell Receptor Excision Circles. In: Fairchild, P.J. (eds) Immunological Tolerance. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 380. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-395-0_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-395-0_12
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-652-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-395-0
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