UM File # 4364

Background
The ability to mount an immune defense against infectious microorganisms and their products, tumors and other environmental challenges, is believed to be a direct function of lymphocyte diversity. While the total number of lymphocytes in the blood can be measured with precision, the diversity of the T cell compartment, on which immunocompetence is based, cannot. In the absence of direct measures of lymphocyte diversity, various indirect methods for estimating diversity have been used, including antibodies against variable-region families analyzed by flow cytometry, spectratyping or immunoscope, and limiting dilution analysis. Despite developments in these technologies, current methods cannot directly and rapidly assess lymphocyte receptor diversity.

Technology Description
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed methods for directly and rapidly assessing lymphocyte receptor diversity. In brief, the method includes hybridizing labeled nucleic acid molecules from the materials to be assessed with random nucleic acid molecules, whereby the frequency of hybridization of the labeled to the random nucleic acid molecules varies in direct proportion to diversity. This method may be used to clinically diagnose immunodeficiency stemming from compression of lymphocyte repertoires or to monitor immune reconstitution following hematopoietic cell transplantation. In addition, viral quasispecies can be identified and quantified to guide therapeutic choices and make prognostic assessments.

Applications
• Determination of lymphocyte or viral diversity
• Disease monitoring for autoimmune disorders

Advantages
• Direct and rapid assessment of lymphocyte receptor diversity

File Number: 4364