Limiting Dilution Analysis of Cells of the Immune System

This new edition is an extensive treatise on the rationale of limiting dilution analysis (LDA). LDA has evolved from its previous role as a basic research laboratory tool in virology and immunology to one pertaining to many different research disciplines and to clinical applications. New methodologies (such as PCR, confocal microscopy, in situ hybridisation) have emerged, with the result that single-cell assays can now be performed on a more defined basis, and the quantitation of cells and their precursors is now more accessible to the limiting dilution approach. This book includes both detailed mathematical derivations and methodological descriptions so that the uninitiated scientist can set up and evaluate limiting dilution experiments without further instruction. It also describes particular examples of how LDA is being used to determine clinical practice. The second edition of this highly successful book, which has been on the shelf of every modern immunology laboratory for the last two decades, retains the same overall structure of the first edition, with one important addition - an extensive LDA software package. The LDA program and the simulation software will be linked to a web site to ensure updates at regular intervals. The first edition was written primarily for immunologists, but this volume has been expanded so that it will be useful to a broader audience in microbiology, pathology, virology and cellular biology. Furthermore, this volume is intended to be used as additional reading for students of biology and medicine whose knowledge of the applications of Poisson distribution need refreshing.

Ivan Lefkovits, Basel Institute for Immunology, Basel. Herman Waldmann, Head of Department, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford.