title: Phenotypic analysis of antigen-specific T lymphocytes.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305-5428, USA.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Altman
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Moss
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Goulder
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Barouch
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: McHeyzer-Williams
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: McMichael
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: 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