Alexander Scheffold, Andreas Thiel
Detection of antigen-specific lymphocytes/Detektion von Antigen-spezifischen Lymphozyten
Antigen-specific lymphocytes are the cellular basis for the unique features of the adaptive immune system and are critically involved in both immune protection and immune pathology. Their low frequency and technical limitations with respect to specific labeling methods have prevented their in-depth analysis on the cellular level until only a few years ago. For a long time, most of our knowledge about the antigen-specific cells was obtained from indirect assays measuring antigen-induced effector functions of whole lymphocyte populations. During the last few years, several developments in flow-cytometry and cell sorting have been made which now allow to correlate phenotype and function on the single cell level. These new technologies allowed us to obtain a more detailed view of the role of antigen-specific lymphocytes for immune protection from infectious diseases as well as for immune pathology like autoimmunity or allergy. Information about frequency and function of antigen-specific lymphocytes in vivo will not only lead to improved diagnostic tools but also open up new avenues for the specific treatment of various immune-mediated disorders. Here, we give an overview of the state-of-the-art in antigen-specific cytometry.
LaboratoriumsMedizin, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 0025-8466
Volume: 28, 08/2004
Pages: 299 - 306
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