The adaptive immune system responds to pathogens by selecting clones of cells with specific receptors.While clonal selection in response to particular radio birdman tshirt antigens has been studied in detail, it is unknown how a lifetime of exposures to many antigens collectively shape the immune repertoire.Here, using mathematical modeling and statistical analyses of T cell receptor sequencing data, we develop a quantitative theory of human T cell dynamics compatible with the statistical laws of repertoire organization.We find that clonal expansions during a perinatal time window leave a long-lasting imprint on the human T cell repertoire, which is only slowly reshaped by fluctuating read more clonal selection during adult life.
Our work provides a mechanism for how early clonal dynamics imprint the hierarchy of T cell clone sizes with implications for pathogen defense and autoimmunity.