Since the mid-1990’s MHC tetramer technology has revolutionised T cell immunology and helped researchers to better understand T cell responses. More recently, MHC tetramers have been used to study COVID-19 responses and are now an invaluable tool for developing new cancer therapies.
T cells respond to peptides presented by the MHC molecules. At the cellular level, each T cell recognise a unique peptide MHC (pMHC) combination where CD8+ and CD4+ T cell subsets are restricted to MHC class I and class II, respectively. The interaction between the peptide-MHC (pMHC) complex and a cognate TcR is short lived and of low affinity.
By multimerisation of four peptide-MHC molecules on a streaptavidin scaffold, tetramers increase the avidity of the pMHC:TcR interaction by engaging several of the TcRs expressed on a specific T cell thereby stabilising the interaction. This allows for direct and specific staining of the T cells. pMHC tetramers provide a simple, fast and efficient approach for monitoring and handling specific T cells. Peptide-MHC tetramers can be used to identify specific T cells without further in vitro manipulation, and they allow for a simultaneous evaluation of the differentiation state through co-staining for various phenotypic markers. In addition, peptide-MHC monomers and tetramers can be used to purify and manipulate the specific T cells.
immunAware’s MHC molecules (HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, and HLA-DR) are biotinylated; hence all their pMHC monomers can be tetramerised through the biotin-streptavidin interaction.
The peptide-MHC complexes are available as monomers (biotinylated) or tetramers:
- Monomers have a longer shelf life and a higher flexibility with respect to your staining scheme i.e you can make your own tetramers with the streptavidin label(s) of your choice, (including metal labels for CyTOF analysis).
- Tetramers are available with Phycoerythrin (PE), allophycocyanin (APC) and Brilliant Violet™ (BV) fluorochromes.
immunAware Products
Catalogue peptide-Class I and peptide-Class II complexes covering a substantial range of known HLA class I and HLA-DR restricted T cell epitopes.
Custom peptide MHC class I and II complexes using a peptide of your choice. Discover their MHC class I molecules and MHC class II molecules. To assist your design of custom peptide-MHC class I and II complexes, they recommend that you use predictors (e.g. one from the NetMHC series).
easYmers® peptide receptive (“empty”) MHC class I monomeric molecules that allows you to make your own custom mono- or tetramers from day to day in your own lab. 50+ different HLA class I allotypes are available; the monomers are biotinylated which makes it easy to assemble tetramers with a maximum flexibility for choosing your preferred flow-color. See their line of easYmers® here.
Originally posted on: https://immunaware.com/technology/mhc-monomers-and-tetramers/
Caltag Medsystems is the distributor of immunAware products in the UK & Ireland. If you have any questions about these products, please contact us.