Title: clonal expansion
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - clonal expansion
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.13014
Status: current

Definition
Proliferation of B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes activated by clonal selection in order to produce a clone of identical cells.

Note
Clonal expansion enables the body to have sufficient numbers of antigen-specific lymphocytes to mount an effective immune response.

Related Terms
- B lymphocytes: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/12937
- T lymphocytes: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13724
- clonal selection: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13016
- lymphocytes: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13399

Source
- PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1145 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13014/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13014/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13014/xml

Citation: Citation: 'clonal expansion' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.13014
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-06-30T08:32:51+00:00