Tetramers Quantitate T Cells

Beckman Coulter, Incorporated has introduced a new class of MHC Tetramers which detect and quantitate the T cells that influence many autoimmune diseases. Class II iTAg™ MHC Tetramers measure the activity of antigen-specific CD4 T cells, providing useful information in the evaluation of vaccine therapy, immunotherapy, immune competence, disease risk analysis, disease prognosis and cellular anergy. CD4 T cells play a central role in the regulation of both appropriate and inappropriate immune responses. In autoimmune diseases, such as type I diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus, CD4 T cells are inappropriately activated. Tetramer technology can be used with either whole blood or PBMCs. Within about an hour, a Tetramer assay provides an accurate count of the T cells that are responding to a specific peptide and thus reacting to the antigens of a specific disease. Because iTAg MHC tetramers directly quantitate specific T cells, they offer more complete information on the body's immune response than the traditional method of only observing the antibodies produced by B cells or nonspecific T cell responses.