Phenotypic markers for functional lymphocyte populations: a critical appraisal of current usage as disease markers...

Abnormal immune function plays a role in a number of diseases, and measurement of immune function is an important role for Clinical Immunology laboratories (Chapel and Sewell, 1990; Miller et al., 1991; Rose et al., 1986; Stites, 1991). Tests for lymphocyte function tend to be slow and tedious, and to lack clinically useful discriminatory power; as a result their use in a clinical context is limited (see references cited above). On the other hand, the increasing numbers of monoclonal antibodies against lymphocyte membrane molecules has led to the use of markers as indicators of functional potential (Reinherz and Schlossman, 1982). This review examines the characteristics that make a clinically useful panel of markers, considers the kinds of questions that can be answered by marker or in vitro functional studies, reviews markers and functional assays in current use and proposes a panel of markers that may be worthy of further evaluation.