The Functional Assessment of T Cells.

It is important to know what kind of T-cell populations are involved in various disease states, and to know the state of T-cell functions involving in the disease. When a T cell's antigen receptors (TCR) recognize a specific antigen, the cell transmits a signal by a transduction mechanism within the T cell's cytoplasm. This signal initiates gene transcription essential for differentiation and activation of T cells. In this chapter, we will describe the methods of analyzing the transcribed mRNA and detecting the translated product in order to know the activation state of T cells.