The Polymerase Chain Reaction and the Analysis of the T-cell Receptor Repertoire

This text describes the molecular biology of the components of the trimolecular complex and focuses on current knowledge of major mechanisms that shape the TCR repertoire.

It provides a detailed description of the method and general applications of PCR in research and clinical medicine and describes each system, providing recent examples along with the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques.

Also included is the use of quantative PCR in TCR analysis.

The book summarizes the recent extensive bibliography where PCR-based methods are being used to analyze TCR expression and repertoire in normal and pathological conditions such as cancer, transplantation, immunodeficiencies, superantigenic stimulation and autoimmune lesions, especially multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.