[Quantitative determination of human bone marrow T cells following in vitro depletion by Campath-1 monoclonal antibody].

Bone marrow T cell depletion is an effective graft vs host disease prophylaxis in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Standard methods of identifying T cells are not sensitive enough to determine small numbers of residual T cells following T cell depletion. A rapid and sensitive method, using limiting dilution culture technology and radionucleotide labelling and allowing the detection of 1/10(4)-1/10(5) residual T cells, has been developed. Its usefulness in the evaluation of the number of T cells after monoclonal antibody (Campath-1) + autologous complement marrow treatment is demonstrated.