(a = alpha)
Arstila et al. (1) estimated an average diversity
of 9 * 10^5 different b chains and 4.5 *
10^5 different a chains in the human nai¨ve T
cell repertoire. To calculate the total T cell
repertoire diversity, the b-chain diversity was
estimated within a certain variable (V) gene
family, Va12^+, comprising 2.5% of the total
a-chain repertoire. Finding in this particular
family an estimated total of 6 * 105 different
ß chains (i.e., two-thirds of the total ß-chain
repertoire), Arstila et al. suggested that the
total T cell receptor (TCR) diversity comprises
at least (6 * 105) * 40 = 2.4 * 10^7
different aß combinations (1). The authors
acknowledge that this is only a lower bound,
because the calculation assumes that the ß
chains that do bind at least one Va12 chain
bind only one of the 4.5 * 10^5 different a
chains in the Va12^+ family. If each ß chain
found within the Va12^+ family were to bind
an average of n different Va12 chains instead,
the total estimated TCR diversity would be
n-fold higher than this lower bound
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