11 In gene expression, novel methodologies for analyzing heterogeneous tissue microarray data to yield cell type-specific expression have been used on whole blood samples from pediatric renal transplant patients to identify monocyte-specific differences between acute rejection and stable patients, undetectable otherwise,19 and for detection of expression correlates with cancer,40 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to name but two examples. The more recent techniques for analyzing single cell gene

expression data have been shown to identify novel CD8+ T cell subsets with immunization-specific gene expression research signatures in human samples,41 and it would be expected that single cell techniques will grow in their clinical utility especially for such fields as gynecology and hematology. Serum protein and TCR repertoire Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical analysis is still in the early days; however, results are already promising: distinctive serum protein profiles are being identified for diseases, especially auto-immune diseases, yet their predictive ability is still an open question. In contrast, repertoire sequencing

of healthy individuals and blood cancer patients has already been shown to identify disease-specific signatures allowing determination of the number and identity of the dominant cancerous Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical B cell clonal receptors.42 Thus, while still in the early days, the evidence suggests that high-resolution immune monitoring is scientifically justified in the context of investigating human disease. As discoveries continue, the use in the clinics

will likely be driven by costs and the ability to identify an economic number of robustly measured variables that are predictive towards a specific disease or condition or more generally to our immune health. THE RELEVANCE OF IMMUNE MONITORING TO AGING AND IMMUNOSENESCENCE Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical The chances of an elderly individual contracting an infectious disease and developing complications are significantly higher than those of a younger person. Protective vaccination of these older adults is less than half as effective as that of younger individuals.43 The principal reason for this is thought to be a loss of Batimastat immune function, termed immune senescence. For example, it has been shown that older adults can exhibit a number of immune deficiencies, in both the innate and adaptive arms of immunity including reduced lymphocyte proliferation to new antigens (both B and T cells), failure to produce neutralizing antibodies, as well as changes in the frequency of white blood cell subtypes,44,45 altered hematopoiesis, and reduced T cell receptor repertoire and antibody production.