Diversity of the Immune Repertoire and Immunoregulation

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Abstract
Since the midpoint of the 20th century, medical advances in economically developed countries have exceeded all expectations. In 1950, the year I entered medical school, the average life expectancy in the United States was 68 years. By 2000, it was 77 years (80 years for women).1 In 1957, when I began my fellowship in hematology, there was no combination chemotherapy, the choice of antibiotics was limited, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging did not exist, and most neoplasms were incurable. And in 1958, the year I began my research on immunosuppressive drugs, the role of the lymphocyte was unclear, and successful organ and bone marrow transplantation lay in the future.