Evaluating CD8+ T cell responses in vitro

Abstract

The 51Cr-release assay described in the 1960s has been for decades the gold standard cytolytic assay but for safety reasons is no longer in use in many laboratories. Whereas other radioactive tests were later on described, they never ousted the 51Cr-release assay. More thorough understanding of CTL biology and killing pathways has more recently resulted in the design of reliable nonradioactive tests to analyze CD8+ T cell responses. Allowing for real-time evaluation of target cell viability, some of them are particularly attractive and are described here together with traditional assays.