Year: 1998
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This chapter discusses the different aspects of killer cell assays. Cell-mediated cytotoxicity plays an important role in the host immune defense against pathogens that reside within cells. Intracellular pathogens escape antibody-, complement-, and neutrophil-mediated defenses; therefore, to be cleared, infected cells have to be specifically identified and destroyed. Chromium51 labeled cells can be infected with a pathogen or coated with antigenic peptides and incubated together with CTLs. If the T cells, referred to as “effector cells” in these assays, detect their specific epitope on the surface of labeled target cells, they induce cell death and the damage of the cell membrane, releasing 51Cr into the culture medium. 51Cr-labeled target cells can be infected with intracellular pathogens and tested for lysis by specific CTLs. These assays can determine if pathogen-specific CTLs are elicited by infection and can characterize epitope presentation in actively infected cells, if epitope-specific T-cell clones or T-cell lines are available. Although different cell types can be used as target cells in CRA, the cell specificity of the pathogen may limit the range of available target cells.
Source: Methods in microbiology
Authors: D H Busch, E G Pamer
Institution: Yale University
Language: English
Subfield: Immunology
Field: Immunology and Microbiology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W1634118326