T-Lymphocyte and Innate Immune Cell Activation Assays

Lymphocyte and innate immune cell activation are integral to immune responses to foreign antigens. Xeno Diagnostics has experience with in vitro methods for characterizing these responses. The choice of an assay is dependent upon the immune status of the cells (primed or unprimed), the cell type (PBMC or lymphocytes), the antigen (biomaterial, protein, or chemical), and how the antigens are presented (native, haptens, or via loaded dendritic cells). The degree of cell activation that occurs in culture reflects the relative strength of the immune response and is quantified by measuring cell proliferation, cytokine secretion, or cell membrane activation markers. Some of our most popular activation assays are as follows:

Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction (MLR):

Area used: Transplantation

Basic concept: Co-culture allograft donor lymphocytes with recipient lymphocytes to determine immune response.

• Human allografts
• Xenografts
• Allogeneic MLR with drugs to determine immune response

T-dependent Antigen Activation:

Area used: Immunogenicity

Basic concept: PBMC’s are cultured with therapeutic biological proteins to screen for potential immunogenicity.

• Naive T-cells
• Sensitized T-cells
• Utilizes antigen presenting cells (APC’s) or dendritic cells (DC’s)

Leukocyte Inflammation:

Area used: Biomaterial Reactivity

Basic concept: PBMC’s are cultured with biomaterials and screened for proliferation, inflammatory cytokines or chemokines.

• Lymphocytes
• Adherent Cells
• Granulocytes

Mixed Lymphocyte Tumor Cell Assay (MLTuC):

Area used: Immunotherapy

Basic concept: Co-culture host lymphocytes and tumor cells to determine T-cell response to tumor cells.

• Cancer drug screening
• Immuno-oncology Therapy