Assay method for peptide specific T-cells
AssigneeIsis Innovation Limited
InventorsAjit Lalvani, Roger Hamilton Brookes
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of assaying for peptide-specific T-cells comprises adding peptide to a fluid sample of fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and detecting a cytokine such as interferon-γ produced by T-cells that have been pre-sensitized to the peptide. The assay method is quick and cheap and is expected to be useful for the study of various disease states including Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV and influenza.
Claims9
An assay for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific immediate effector T cells in a subject, comprising:
- (a) providing a sample from said subject containing T cells;
- (b) exposing said T cells to an immunogenic amount of a peptide subfragment of ESAT-6 that contains a CD8+ epitope;
- and
- (c) prior to the generation of new immediate effector T cells in the sample, determining whether said T cells are activated by said peptide subfragment by measuring secretion of a cytokine from said T cells;
- wherein activation of said T cells identifies the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific immediate effector T cells that were present in the original sample, in said subject.
An assay for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific immediate effector T cells in a subject, comprising:
- (a) providing a sample from said subject containing T cells;
- (b) exposing said T cells to an immunogenic amount of a peptide subfragment of ESAT-6 that contains a CD8+ epitope;
- (c) incubating said T cells for a period of time which is not sufficient to effect differentiation of quiescent T cells to immediate effector T cells;
- and
- (d) determining whether said T cells are activated by said peptide subfragment by measuring secretion of a cytokine from said T cells,
- wherein activation of said T cells identifies the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific immediate effector T cells in said subject.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.