clonal expansion
Identical cell copying
Clonal expansion is the rapid multiplication of a single cell into many genetically identical copies.
The term appears most often in immunology, where a lymphocyte that recognizes a specific antigen divides repeatedly to produce an army of identical cells capable of fighting that threat: Clonal expansion of T cells is essential to the immune response.
The concept also applies to cancer, where a mutated cell proliferates uncontrollably.
- proliferationRapid increase in quantity
- cell divisionParent splitting into offspring
- T cellsThymus-derived immune lymphocytes
- killer T cellsLymphocytes that destroy infected cells
- lymphocytesAdaptive immunity cells
white blood cells · immune response · immune system · division · replication · antigen · memory cells · antibodies · selection · mutation · cancer · tumor · stem cells · bone marrow · activation · cytokines · receptor · colony
- immunityimmune, immunity, immune system, immune response, immune cells
- oncologycancer, tumor, carcinoma, metastasis, malignancy
- tumor evolutionselection pressure, selective pressure, phylogeny
- Cancer Biologymalignant cells, metastasis, carcinogenesis, tumor growth, oncogenes
- antibodiesantibody, antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, heavy chain, nanobodies
- Germinal Centersdark zone, class switching