title: Interleukin-7: an interleukin for rejuvenating the immune system.
abstract: Infection of an individual (aged 20-30 years) by a virus will cause a response from the T (thymus derived) lymphocytes of which there are approximately 3 x 10(11). If the individual has not met the virus before, the response will come from the naive T cell subset (50 +/- 10% of the total T cell pool at this age) containing recent thymic emigrants produced from the thymus at approximately 10(8) per day. Their antigen-specific receptor has a defined specificity governed by the conformation of its two chains (alpha and beta), and the repertoire of specificities is somewhere in the region of 2 x 10(7) to 10(8). A successful response leads to clonal expansion and the generation of memory T cells to the infecting agent.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College, London SW10 9NH, UK. r.aspinall@ic.ac.uk
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aspinall
authors.forename: Sian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Henson
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pido-Lopez
authors.forename: Pa Tamba
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Ngom
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System; D015851:Interleukin-7 / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012737:Sex Factors; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D015851:Interleukin-7