Table 4.

Number of Rearrangements Detected in 50 Children by the Conventional Method Using Family-Specific Primers and by Repertoire Analysis Using Segment-Specific Primers

Clones marked by rearrangement	Major clone	Minor clones
Relative abundance of rearrangement	100–10%	>10%	10–1%	1−0.1%	<0.1%
Detected by both analyses	61	8	6	1	4
Conventional only	4	1	0	1	0
Repertoire analysis only	23	5	12	10	24
Probability	<0.0001	NS	<0.0001	<0.001	<0.0001

The criteria for major and minor clones are described in Materials and Methods. Rearrangements have been grouped by abundance and the probabilities that the differences in detection of rearrangements arose by chance are shown. NS, not significant.