Mashishi Tumelo, Gray Clive M
AIDS Research Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Clin Chem Lab Med. 2002 Sep;40(9):903-10. doi: 10.1515/CCLM.2002.159.
Characterization of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I restricted epitopes derived from viral pathogens is imperative for formulating therapeutic interventions, as well as for vaccine design and monitoring. Sensitive, easy and cost-effective assays that measure the frequency of antigen-specific T lymphocytes are crucial for evaluating and improving vaccines and therapies. This paper reviews the ELISPOT technique that allows for quantifying HIV-specific T lymphocytes at the single cell level from peripheral blood by detection of antigen-induced cytokine secretion. The assay can be used successfully to quantify T cell immune responses in humans infected with different pathogens and to assess T cell immunogenicity of vaccines in phase I/II and III clinical trials. This review focuses on the ELISPOT methodology and discusses how it can be standardized and potentially used by multiple international laboratories attached to clinical trial sites.
鉴定源自病毒病原体的人类白细胞抗原（HLA）I类限制性表位对于制定治疗干预措施以及疫苗设计和监测至关重要。测量抗原特异性T淋巴细胞频率的灵敏、简便且经济高效的检测方法对于评估和改进疫苗及疗法至关重要。本文综述了ELISPOT技术，该技术可通过检测抗原诱导的细胞因子分泌，在单细胞水平上对外周血中的HIV特异性T淋巴细胞进行定量。该检测方法可成功用于量化感染不同病原体的人类的T细胞免疫反应，并在I/II期和III期临床试验中评估疫苗的T细胞免疫原性。本综述重点介绍了ELISPOT方法，并讨论了如何对其进行标准化以及多个附属于临床试验地点的国际实验室如何可能使用该方法。
