The evaluation of cell-mediated immunity in vivo.

This paper has briefly described the history, mechanisms and in vivo measurements of cell-mediated immune responses. The focus of this paper was to examine the methods available to measure cell-mediated responsiveness in domestic animals. It was concluded that a practical way of evaluating the integrity of the cellular response would be to combine the measurement of an anamnestic response with the measurement of the cellular response following active immunization with an antigen. The anamnestic response can be evaluated by measuring the response to a battery of antigens given intradermally. In this case the animals (presumably or actually) have had previous exposed to these antigens. The measurement of an induced cell-mediated immune response could be accomplished concurrently by cutaneous sensitization and challenge to a low molecular weight hapten. By using both of these procedures, the ability of the animal's immune system to develop both a primary and secondary response to an antigen can be evaluated in vivo.