title: Intracellular cytokines.
abstract: The principal technique described in this unit was developed for detecting cytokines produced by T cells, specifically interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin 4 (IL-4). In addition to providing information about which cytokines are being produced, it also helps to phenotypically identify the specific cells producing them. For example, CD4(+) or CD8(+) cells can be subdivided into T(H)1/T(H)2 helper cells or T(C)1/T(C)2 suppressor cells, respectively. This procedure can be useful in examining the response of cells to a variety of agonists, the immune function in various disease states, and the level of lymphocyte activation or suppression. In addition, it can be used to detect a variety of cytokines in many cell types, although the methodology must be carefully evaluated for each cytokine or cell type of interest. Additional methods are included for the stimulation of T cells with allogeneic cells and for the performance of controls for labeling specificity.
authors.affiliation: University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Shriners Burns Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
authors.forename: George F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Babcock
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis*; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000032:analysis; D015847:Interleukin-4 / Q000032:analysis; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D015847:Interleukin-4; D007371:Interferon-gamma