Skip to main content

Phenotypic and Functional Characterization of Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes by Flow Cytometry

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Cytotoxic T-Cells

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1186))

Abstract

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) are important constituents of the adaptive immune system. Development of CTLs are particularly important for bacterial and viral infections, in addition to tumor surveillance. Measuring T cell immune function is important in evaluating host defense, allergy, autoimmunity, transplant rejection, and tumor immunity. In these recent years it has become possible to measure multiple effector functions in a single cell such as cytokine, transcription factors, and cytolytic function. In addition these parameters can be evaluated in conjunction with cellular proliferation. In this chapter we detail these cellular based assays and the methods used to characterize and quantify both phenotype and function of CTL.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Williams MA, Bevan MJ (2007) Effector and memory CTL differentiation. Annu Rev Immunol 25:171–192, doi: 0.1146/annurev.immunol.25.022106.141548

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Kurtulus S, Tripathi P, Hildeman DA (2012) Protecting and rescuing the effectors: roles of differentiation and survival in the control of memory T cell development. Front Immunol 3:404. doi:10.3389/fimmu. 2012. 00404, Epub 2013 Jan 23

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Kahan BD (2003) Individuality: the barrier to optimal immunosuppression. Nat Rev Immunol 3:831–838. doi:10.1038/nri1204

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Kapsenberg ML (2003) Dendritic-cell control of pathogen-driven T-cell polarization. Nat Rev Immunol 3:984–993

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. McElroy DS, Badstibner AM, D’Orazio SEF (2007) Use of the CD107 mobilization assay reveals that cytotoxic T lymphocytes with novel MHC-Ib restriction are activated during Listeria monocytogenes infection. J Immunol Methods 328(1–2):45–52

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Betts MR, Brenchley JM, Price DA, De Rosa SC, Douek DC, Roederer M, Koup RA (2003) Sensitive and viable identification of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells by a flow cytometric assay for degranulation. J Immunol Methods 281(1–2):65–78

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Popescu I, Macedo C, Abu-Elmagd K, Shapiro R, Hua Y, Thomson AW, Morelli AE, Storkus WJ, Metes D (2007) EBV-specific CD8+ T cell reactivation in transplant patients results in expansion of CD8+ type-1 regulatory T cells. Am J Transplant 7(5):1215–1223, Epub 2007 Feb 27

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Sarkar S, Kalia V, Haining WN, Konieczny BT, Subramaniam S, Ahmed R (2008) Functional and genomic profiling of effector CD8 T cell subsets with distinct memory fates. J Exp Med 205(3):625–640. doi:10.1084/jem.20071641, Epub 2008 Mar 3

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Maecker HT, Frey T, Nomura L, Trotter J (2004) Selecting fluorochrome conjugates for maximum sensitivity. Cytometry A 62:169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Maecker HT, Trotter J (2006) Flow cytometry controls, instrument setup, and the determination of positivity. Cytometry A 69:1037

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Roederer M (2008) How many events is enough? Are you positive? Cytometry A 73:384–385

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Crowther EJ, Stall A, Bishop JE, Sasaki D (2002) A setup system for compensation: BD CompBeads plus BD FACSDiva software Presented at ISAC XXI, San Diego, CA, 4–9 May Poster No. 57644

    Google Scholar 

  13. BD™CompBead and BD™CompBead Plus compensation particles, BD Biiosciences website: http://www.bdbiosciences.com/external_files/pm/doc/mkt_lit/salesSheets/live/web_enabled/23-13303-01.pdf

  14. Molecular Probes Invitrogen web site: http://products.invitrogen.com/ivgn/product/L23105

  15. Pipeling MR, Popescu ID, Orens JB, Pilewski JM, McDyer JF (2013) Dynamic changes in dominant antigen responses following primary CMV infection in lung transplant recipients. J Heart Lung Transplant 32(4):S298

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. BD Biosciences web site tutorial protocol: http://www.bdbiosciences.com/resources/flowcytometry/index.jsp

  17. Pipeling MR, West EE, Osborne CM, Whitlock AB, Dropulic LK, Willett MH, Forman M, Valsamakis A, Orens JB, Moller DR, Lechtzin N, Migueles SA, Connors M, McDyer JF (2008) Differential CMV-specific CD8+ effector T cell responses in the lung allograft predominate over the blood during human primary infection. J Immunol 181(1):546–556

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Gordy C et al (2011) Regulation of steady-state neutrophil homeostasis by macrophages. Blood 117:618

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Jia W et al (2011) Autophagy regulates endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis and calcium mobilization in T lymphocytes. J Immunol 186:5313

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Parish CR (1999) Cancer immunotherapy: the past, the present and the future. Immunol Cell Biol 77(6):499–508

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. BioLegend website for Annexin V Pacific Blue protocol: http://www.biolegend.com/pacific-blue-annexin-v-5476.html

  22. Hoegh-Petersen M, Roa L, Liu Y, Zhou F, Ugarte-Torres A, Louie P, Fonseca K, Khan F, Russell JA, Storek J (2012) Low cytomegalovirus-specific T-cell counts at reactivation are associated with progression to high-level viremia or disease in seropositive recipients of hematopoietic cell grafts from seropositive but not seronegative donors. Cytotherapy 14(2):194–204. doi:10.3109/14653249.2011.634402, Epub 2011 Dec 7

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Wiesmayr S, Webber SA, Macedo C, Popescu I, Smith L, Luce J, Metes D (2012) Decreased NKp46 and NKG2D and elevated PD-1 are associated with altered NK-cell function in pediatric transplant patients with PTLD. Eur J Immunol 42(2):541–550. doi:10.1002/eji.201141832. Epub 2011 Dec 16

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Macedo C, Orkis EA, Popescu I, Elinoff BD, Zeevi A, Shapiro R, Lakkis FG, Metes D (2009) Contribution of naïve and memory T-cell populations to the human alloimmune response. Am J Transplant 9(9):2057–2066. doi:10.1111/j.1600-6143.2009.02742.x, Epub 2009 Jul 16

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Akulian JA, Pipeling MR, John ER, Orens JB, Lechtzin N, McDyer JF (2013) High-quality CMV-specific CD4+ memory is enriched in the lung allograft and is associated with mucosal viral control. Am J Transplant 13:146–156

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Roederer M (2011) SPICE: exploration and analysis of post-cytometric complex multivariate datasets. Cytometry A 79(2011–01-01):167–174

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Parish CR, et al. (2009) Use of the intracellular fluorescent dye CFSE to monitor lymphocyte migration and proliferation. Curr Protoc Immunol Unit 4.9

    Google Scholar 

  28. Miller MJ et al (2002) Two-photon imaging of lymphocyte motility and antigen response in intact lymph node. Science 296:1869

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Jung T, Schauer U, Heusser C, Neumann C, Rieger C (1993) Detection of intracellular cytokines by flow cytometry. J Immunol Methods 159(1–2):197–207

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Foster B, Prussin C (2012) Current protocols in immunology. Wiley, New York, NY), Unit 6.24; (NIAID, NIH Bethesda MD)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J et al (2002) Molecular biology of the cell, 4th edn. Garland Science, New York

    Google Scholar 

  32. BD website for Annexin V V500 methods: http://www.bdbiosciences.com/external_files/pm/doc/tds/human/live/web_enabled/561501.pdf

  33. Maeckerlab Weblog. http://maeckerlab.typepad.com/maeckerlab_weblog/2006/05/detecting_cd107.html

  34. Ramaswami B, Popescu I, Macedo C, Luo C, Shapiro R, Metes D, Chalasani G, Randhawa PS (2011) The Polyomavirus BK large T-antigen-derived peptide elicits an HLA-DR promiscuous and polyfunctional CD4+ T-cell response. Clin Vaccine Immunol 18(5):815–824. doi:10.1128/CVI.00487-10, Epub 2011 Mar 2

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Ramaswami B, Popescu I, Macedo C, Metes D, Bueno M, Zeevi A, Shapiro R, Viscidi R, Randhawa PS (2009) HLA-A01-, -A03-, and -A024-binding nanomeric epitopes in polyomavirus BK large T antigen. Hum Immunol 70(9):722–728. doi:10.1016/j.humimm.2009.05.003, Epub 2009 May 14

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Zhu J, Yamane H, Paul WE (2010) Differentiation of effector CD4 T cell populations. Annu Rev Immunol 28:445–489

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Zhou L, Chong MM, Littman DR (2009) Plasticity of CD4+ T cell lineage differentiation. Immunity 30:646–655

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Chatenoud L, Bach JF (2006) Adaptive human regulatory T cells: myth or reality? J Clin Invest 116:2325–2327

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Mitchell P, Afzali B, Lombardi G, Lechler RI (2009) The T helper 17-regulatory T cell axis in transplant rejection and tolerance. Curr Opin Organ Transplant 14:326–331

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Chang SH, Dong C (2009) IL-17 F: regulation, signaling and function in inflammation. Cytokine 46:7–11

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Pearce EL, Mullen AC, Martins GA, Krawczyk CM, Hutchins AS, Zediak VP, Banica M, DiCioccio CB, Gross DA, Mao CA, Shen H, Cereb N, Yang SY, Lindsten T, Rossant J, Hunter CA, Reiner SL (2003) Control of effector CD8+ T cell function by the transcription factor Eomesodermin. Science 302(5647):1041–1043

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Iulia Popescu Ph.D. or John McDyer M.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this protocol

Cite this protocol

Popescu, I., Pipeling, M., Akulian, J., McDyer, J. (2014). Phenotypic and Functional Characterization of Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes by Flow Cytometry. In: Ranieri, E. (eds) Cytotoxic T-Cells. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1186. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1158-5_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1158-5_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1157-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1158-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics