How Clinically Useful is T and B Cell Quantitation?

Excerpt

In the past few years medical literature has blossomed with papers on the detection of B and T lymphocytes and their quantitation. Experiments in animals have clearly shown that the immune system can be divided into two components: humoral and cellular. The antibodies mediating humoral immunity are synthesized in B lymphocytes and plasma cells, whereas cellular immunity is mediated mainly through T lymphocytes. In birds, the lymphocytes' acquisition of B cell characteristics depends on the bursa of Fabricus, a juxtacloacal organ. The equivalent of the bursa in mammals is ill defined, but in our laboratory it is believed to be