Phenotypic analysis of antigen-specific T lymphocytes.
Identification and characterization of antigen-specific T lymphocytes during the course of an immune response is tedious and indirect. To address this problem, the peptide-major histocompatability complex (MHC) ligand for a given population of T cells was multimerized to make soluble peptide-MHC tetramers. Tetramers of human lymphocyte antigen A2 that were complexed with two different human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-derived peptides or with a peptide derived from influenza A matrix protein bound to peptide-specific cytotoxic T cells in vitro and to T cells from the blood of HIV-infected individuals. In general, tetramer binding correlated well with cytotoxicity assays. This approach should be useful in the analysis of T cells specific for infectious agents, tumors, and autoantigens.
Altman
J D
JD
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5428, USA.
Moss
P A
PA
Goulder
P J
PJ
Barouch
D H
DH
McHeyzer-Williams
M G
MG
Bell
J I
JI
McMichael
A J
AJ
Davis
M M
MM
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002460:Cell Line; D004396:Coloring Agents; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D015683:Gene Products, gag / Q000276:immunology; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000276:immunology*; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology*; D010641:Phenotype; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000276:immunology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000276:immunology
D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004396:Coloring Agents; D000939:Epitopes; D015683:Gene Products, gag; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; C098952:influenza virus membrane protein (58-66); D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase