Improved Analysis of T-Cell Immune Response

T-cells (or T-lymphocytes) are white blood cells that play an important role in the immune system. One type of T-cells has molecules called CD4 on its surface. These "helper” cells orchestrate the body's response to certain micro-organisms such as viruses. The CD4 count is a reflection of the number of functional CD4 T-cells circulating in the blood.

Traditional functional assays, such as proliferation or cytokine secretion for studying antigen-specific CD4+ T cells, are not truly antigen-specific. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) tetramer, a more recently available tool, has been difficult to reproduce with a high level of consistency, which has meant that the reagents have not been widely accessible. The detection of CD4+ T-cells using MHC tetramers has also been difficult due to the low frequency of these T-cells (down to 1 in 100,000 white blood cells) and the low avidity of binding between the MHC peptide-binding complex and the T-cell receptor

ProImmune's (Oxford, UK) Class II Ultimers are the next-generation of MHC Class II multimers whose design improves the reproducibility and sensitivity of CD4+ T-cell detection. The Class II Ultimer fluorescent detection label has been optimized to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the assay.

Class II Ultimers are supplied with technical support and customer service, and are delivered quickly with stringent quality control and low batch-to-batch variability.




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