1. Enumeration of functionally active anti-Aspergillus T-cells in human peripheral blood.
- Author
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Beck O, Koehl U, Tramsen L, Mousset S, Latgé JP, Müller K, Schwabe D, Bader P, Klingebiel T, and Lehrnbecher T
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Adult, Antigens, Fungal, Aspergillosis etiology, Aspergillosis microbiology, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes microbiology, Case-Control Studies, Cells, Cultured, Child, Female, Humans, Immunologic Memory, Male, Phenotype, Reproducibility of Results, Time Factors, Aspergillosis immunology, Aspergillus fumigatus immunology, CD4 Lymphocyte Count, CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes immunology, Cytokines metabolism, Flow Cytometry, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation adverse effects, Immunophenotyping methods
- Abstract
Invasive aspergillosis remains a life-threatening complication in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). Since CD4(+) T-cells provide a critical secondary defense against Aspergillus spp., the quantification of "functional" anti-Aspergillus T-cells might be important in the clinical care of allogeneic transplant patients. We present a rapid, simple and reproducible method to enumerate functionally active, cytokine-producing anti-Aspergillus T-cells in peripheral blood by means of flow cytometry, by which these cells were also phenotypically characterized as memory CD4(+) T-cells. When using 100,000 PBMCs and requiring a minimum of 50 events, at least one anti-Aspergillus T-cell among 1000 CD4(+) T-cells can be detected. Compared to healthy individuals, the number of anti-Aspergillus T-cells in patients up to one year after SCT was significantly lower. The presented method might help to define hematopoietic transplant recipients who will benefit from adoptive transfer of anti-Aspergillus T cells.
- Published
- 2008
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