One of the most basal requirements of the immune system is that it must be capable of specifically recognizing and responding to foreign antigens, while remaining indifferent to self-components. For T-cells the antigen recognizing function is fulfilled by the TcR. Because of the stochastic nature of antigen receptor formation, selection for appropriate TeR is needed. These selection processes take place in the thymus, presumably in complex interactions with the thymic stromal cells. Negative selection (clonal deletion) prevents self-reactive T-cells from becoming auto-aggressive. Positive selection (clonal selection) prevents the accumulation of useless T-cells with either no antigen receptor at all, or with for the organism useless receptors.

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The printing of this Ph.D. thesis was financially supported by the Journal LEUKEMIA (and the Killmann Leukemia Foundation) and the DAKO Corporation (Carpinteria, CA USA). Additional support was obtained from Perkin-Elmer Nederland B.V. (Gouda, the Netherlands), Biozym Nederland B.V. (Landgraaf, the Netherlands), Bio-Rad Laboratories B.V. (Veenendaal, the Netherlands), and Schleicher & Schuell Nederland B.V. (,s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands).
J.J.M. van Dongen (Jacques)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
hdl.handle.net/1765/23904
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Breit, T. (1994, November 23). Gene rearrangements in human T-cells. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/23904