CD8 MicroBeads

Unrivaled: excellent purity and unmatched recovery
Time-saving: cells can be immediately used for downstream applications
Reliable: proven in a plethora of publications

Description

CD8 MicroBeads were developed for the positive selection or depletion of human cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cells from different cell sources. The most commonly used cell sources are peripheral blood and cord blood. In addition, cytotoxic T cells have also been isolated from lymph nodes, thymus, skin biopsies¹, and spleen.

Details

Background information
The CD8 antigen forms a complex together with the T cell receptor and acts as an accessory molecule in the recognition of MHC class I/peptide complexes by the TCR heterodimer on CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells. The CD8 molecule consists of either an α/β heterodimer or an α/α homodimer. It is expressed strongly on cytotoxic T cells and dimly on a subset of NK cells. CD8 is found on most thymocytes and on about one third of all peripheral blood T cells. CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells play an important role in the killing of virus-infected cells and tumor cells.

Downstream applications
Isolation or depletion of CD8⁺ cytotoxic T cells is performed in many different research fields such as infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, allergy, and asthma, as well as tumor immunology.
Cytotoxic T cells isolated by MACS® Technology remain viable and functional. Therefore, they can be used for further functional studies, such as proliferation assays^2,9 and cytotoxicity assays^2,3, but also for the analysis of in vitro cytokine production⁴. CD8 MicroBeads have also been used for the depletion of CD8⁺ T cells from human PBMCs for immune reconstitution experiments in SCID mice.⁵In combination with CD4 MultiSort MicroBeads, CD8 MicroBeads have been used for the isolation of CD4⁺CD8⁺ double-positive thymocytes.⁸Other examples include various studies on viral infections, e.g., in vitro infections of CD8⁺ cells with HIV⁶, or monitoring of immune abnormalities in children of HIV-infected mothers⁷.

Columns

For positive selection: MS, LS, XS, or autoMACS Columns. For depletion: LD, C S, D, or autoMACS Columns.

Figure 1

Separation of CD8⁺ cells from PBMCs using CD8 MicroBeads, an LS Column, and a MidiMACS™ Separator.

PBMCs before separation

CD8^- cells

CD8⁺ cells

Figure 2

Scanning electron micrograph of CD8⁺ T cells isolated using CD8 MicroBeads (courtesy of Prof. Peter Groscurth, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zürich, Switzerland).

Scanning electron micrograph of CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells isolated using CD8 MicroBeads (courtesy of Prof. Peter Groscurth, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zürich, Switzerland).