Use of soluble MHC class II/peptide multimers to detect antigen-specific T cells in human disease
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* Corresponding author: Jerome R Bill jerome.bill@uchsc.edu
Departments of Medicine and Immunology, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colorado, USA
Arthritis Res 2002, 4:261-265 doi:10.1186/ar417
Published: 28 February 2002Abstract
Most techniques that identify antigen-specific T cells are dependent on the response of these cells to the relevant antigen in culture. Soluble multimers of MHC molecules, when occupied with the same peptide, will bind selectively to T cells specific for that MHC/peptide complex. Techniques to produce fluorescent MHC class II/peptide multimers have recently been developed. These reagents provide a method to facilitate detection and isolation of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells and they represent a new research tool to study these cells in patients with immune-mediated diseases.