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A Direct Estimate of the Human αβ T Cell Receptor Diversity
Abstract
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 10 12 T cells in the human body is not known. In this study, TCR gene amplification and sequencing showed that there are about 10 6 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 × 10 5 to 2 × 10 5 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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“the human TCR repertoire entails approximately 106 different TRB gene nucleotide sequences”
From Successful and Maladaptive T Cell Aging (2017) · cites this paper as Arstila et al., 1999
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Metadata
- Authors
- Arstila, T. P., Casrouge, A., Baron, V., Even, J., Kanellopoulos, J., & Kourilsky, P.
- Affiliations
- Inserm (FR)
- Unité de Biologie Moléculaire du Gène, INSERM U277, Institut Pasteur, 75724 Paris Cedex 15, France.
- Corresponding author
- Arstila, T. Petteri
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1999-10-29
- Volume
- 286
- Issue
- 5441
- Pages
- 958-961
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2105381977
- Cited by
- 931
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 45 · 2014: 42 · 2013: 49 · 2012: 49
- FWCI
- 8.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Artificial Immune Systems Applications
- Keywords
- T cell receptor diversity, alpha beta T cells, T cell receptor repertoire, T cell receptor beta chain, TCR alpha chain, T cell memory, naive T cells, T cell receptor
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Gene Amplification, Humans, Immunologic Memory, Male, T-Lymphocytes, Genetic Variation, Gene Rearrangement, T-Lymphocyte, Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta
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