| 摘要 |
A method for identifying a change in thymic activation status comprises detecting a difference in the concentration of a marker in a blood sample which has been taken from a patient after disruption of sex steroid mediated signalling which results in chemical castration of the patient, as compared to the concentration of the marker in a sample taken before the disruption. The detected difference identifies a change in thymic activation status. The marker is selected from interleukin 7, interleukin 4, interferon gamma, a cytokine, FTS, thymulin, thymopoietin, a thymopoietin cytokine, a neuropeptide, a thymosin, a thymic hormone, and a thymopoietic hormone. Also described is a method for determining a patient's thymic activation state that comprises determining the level of TREC DNA in a sample comprising T cells from a patient.
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