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Multiplex Screening Assay for Identifying Cytotoxic CD8 + T Cell Epitopes
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Multiplex Screening Assay for Identifying Cytotoxic CD8 + T Cell Epitopes

Chek Meng Poh, Jian Zheng, Rudragouda Channappanavar, Zi Wei Chang, Thi H O Nguyen, Laurent Rénia, Katherine Kedzierska, Stanley Perlman and Leo L M Poon
Frontiers in immunology, Vol.11, pp.400-400
2020
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00400
PMCID: PMC7078160
PMID: 32218786
url
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00400View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

The cytotoxicity of epitope-specific CD8 T cells is usually measured indirectly through IFNγ production. Existing assays that directly measure this activity are limited mainly to measurements of up to two specificities in a single reaction. Here, we develop a multiplex cytotoxicity assay that allows direct, simultaneous measurement of up to 23 different specificities of CD8 T cells in a single reaction. This can greatly reduce the amount of starting clinical materials for a systematic screening of CD8 T cell epitopes. In addition, this greatly enhanced capacity enables the incorporation of irrelevant epitopes for determining the non-specific killing activity of CD8 T cells, thereby allowing to measure the actual epitope-specific cytotoxicity activities. This technique is shown to be useful to study both human and mouse CD8 T cells. Besides, our results from human PBMCs and three independent infectious animal models (MERS, influenza and malaria) further reveal that IFNγ expression by epitope-specific CD8 T cells does not always correlate with their cell-killing potential, highlighting the need for using cytotoxicity assays in specific contexts (e.g., evaluating vaccine candidates). Overall, our approach opens up new possibilities for comprehensive analyses of CD8 T cell cytotoxicity in a practical manner.
Staining and Labeling - methods T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic - immunology Flow Cytometry - methods Animals Humans Mice Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - immunology Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - isolation & purification

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