Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Department of Medical Biophysics, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
J Clin Pathol. 2018 Mar;71(3):195-200. doi: 10.1136/jclinpath-2017-204761. Epub 2017 Oct 21.
T cell clonality testing has important clinical and research value, providing a specific and reproducible assessment of clonal diversity in T cell proliferations. Here we review the conceptual foundations of T cell clonality assays, including T cell ontogeny and T cell receptor structure and function; we also provide an introduction to T cell receptor genomics and the concept of the T cell clonotype. This is followed by a review of historical and current methods by which T cell clonality may be assayed, including current assay limitations. Some of these assay limitations have been overcome by employing next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based technologies that are becoming a mainstay of modern molecular pathology. In this vein, we provide an introduction to NGS technologies, including a review of the preanalytical, analytical and postanalytical technologies relevant to T cell clonality NGS assays.
T 细胞克隆性检测具有重要的临床和研究价值，可特异性且可重复地评估 T 细胞增殖中的克隆多样性。在此，我们回顾了 T 细胞克隆性检测的概念基础，包括 T 细胞发生和 T 细胞受体结构与功能；我们还介绍了 T 细胞受体基因组学和 T 细胞克隆型的概念。接下来，我们回顾了历史上和目前可用于检测 T 细胞克隆性的方法，包括当前检测方法的局限性。一些检测方法的局限性已通过采用下一代测序（NGS）技术得到克服，该技术已成为现代分子病理学的主要手段。在此基础上，我们介绍了 NGS 技术，包括对与 T 细胞克隆性 NGS 检测相关的分析前、分析中和分析后技术的综述。
