FACS isolation of low percentage human antigen-specific CD8+ T cells based on activation-induced CD3 and CD8 downregulation

M Huang, J Zhang, W Chen - Journal of immunological methods, 2019 - Elsevier
As T cell activation leads to downregulation of T cell receptor (TCR) and coreceptor CD8, we
developed a novel FACS-based sorting method to enrich activated antigen-specific CD8+ T
cells. Using multiple established or low percentage T cell cultures, with either single antigen
specificity or multiple influenza A virus antigen specificities, we have optimized the sorting
method for T cell activation time and stimulating antigen dose. We have also sorted various
numbers of antigen-specific CD8+ T cells into 96-well plates to demonstrate these T cells …