A Novel Flow Cytometric Assay for Evaluating Antigen-specific CTL Responses and Its Application in EIAV Immunological Study
Abstract: A novel flow cytometric assay for evaluating Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) antigen-specific CTL responses was established and by using PKH-26 and CFSE as cell colouration dyes. Compared with the traditional 51Cr -release assay, the new method is more sensitive, has a decrease background and avoids the risk of radioactive exposure to workers. The cellular immuno-response against EIAV infection was detected using this method. The maturation of EIAV antigen-specific CTL response was characterized. The result showed that the CTL response reached a maximum at three months and remained relatively high. The novel method is directly applicable to research on the immune mechanism of the EIAV attenuated vaccine.