The immune system can be broken down into two main parts: innate and adaptive responses. An innate immune response is the first line of defense and is a non-specific, immediate short-term response. Whereas adaptive immune response is the body’s secondary line of defense and is a specific, long-term response. Many companies and researchers are investigating different ways to take advantage of or supercharge the adaptive immune response to treat cancer. To further this investigation Visikol, as a leader in cell culture based assays, offers a variety of 2D and 3D models for evaluating the effects of treatments on immune responses and immunotherapies.
T cells are a major component of the adaptive immune response and an important aspect of this response is the formation of the immune synapse (IS). The immune synapse is a cell-cell junction between T cells and antigen presenting cells (APC) or target cells such as tumor cells. The formation of the IS plays a critical role in the activation of T cells, but the window to view this phenomenon is small. Visikol’s immune synapse assay takes advantage of this window to analyze IS formation and how various compounds and treatments could have an effect of this formation.
The immune synapse assay uses a 2D cell culture model that can provide a closer look at the interaction between T cells and tumor cells to assess the effects of compounds and immunotherapies on formation of the immune synapse. Jurkat cells (T cell) and Raji cells (B lymphocyte) are the main cell lines used for this assay. The test article concentrations and vehicle control are run in triplicates. Jurkat cells are tagged with a fluorescent label, the synapse is identified with LFA-1, ICAM-1, and Phalloidin and a DAPI nuclear stain to identify any cell for an accurate total cell count. High content imaging is performed, and images are analyzed. The end points of this assay include dose response curves demonstrating the number of synapses formed vs the test article concentrations, total number of cells for each group, cell viability, and a statistical significance analysis of results in regard to the vehicle and test article groups.
Visikol is committed to achieving our Clients’ goal in advancing the field of adaptive immune responses and immunotherapies for cancer treatments. Contact us to work with our Visikol team to identify the best assay and model for your specific research needs.
