Isolation of CD8+ Antigen-Specific T Cells

With adoptive T cell therapies (ACTs) becoming more prevalent, the need for easy and effective isolation of antigen-specific T cells in a clinical setting is growing. The MACSQuant^® Tyto™ is a benchtop cell sorter that is fully closed, sterile, and easy to use. At the heart of the system is the disposable, single-use cartridge, which allows for completely aseptic sorting conditions with no chance of cross-contamination between samples. Here we demonstrate the MACSQuant Tyto’s capacity to sort rare antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells out of fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). As a model we used PBMCs from a CMV-seropositive donor. The PBMCs contained less than 0.1% of CMV-specific T cells. CMV is a member of the herpes virus group and has a prevalence of 50–96% in human adults. Once infected, the virus persists in the body. The infection is asymptomatic in healthy individuals, but in immunocompromised patients CMV can cause severe diseases.