Analysis of frequency and phenotype of antigen-specific T cells.

Journal article

Over the last decade, our understanding of the cellular immune system has been greatly advanced through the development of methods to identify antigen-specific T cells directly ex vivo. The major reagents and techniques used for this purpose are (i) tetramerised MHC:peptide complexes (tetramers) which bind to specific T-cell receptors (TCR) and (ii) assays that detect T cells which synthesise cytokines in response to cognate stimulation (intracellular cytokine staining (ICS)). Here, we provide a detailed description of the procedure for generating and using class I MHC:peptide tetramers to label peptide-specific T cells and for carrying out ICS to measure antigen-specific T lymphocytes.

Authors: Stock, A; Cerundolo, V

• Journal: Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)
• Volume: 514
• Pages: 1-14
• Publication date: 2009-01-01
• DOI: 10.1007/978-1-60327-527-9_1
• EISSN: 1940-6029
• ISSN: 1064-3745
• Language: English
• Keywords: Cytokines; T-Lymphocytes; Immunologic Techniques; Antigens; Staining and Labeling; Intracellular Space; Animals; Peptides; Epitopes; Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; Lymphocyte Count; Protein Structure, Quaternary; Phenotype