Generation of Human Alloantigen-specific T Cells from Peripheral Blood

Summary

This article describes a method for the generation and propagation of human T cell clones that specifically respond to a defined alloantigen. This protocol can be adapted for cloning human T cells specific for a variety of peptide-MHC ligands.

Abstract

The study of human T lymphocyte biology often involves examination of responses to activating ligands. T cells recognize and respond to processed peptide antigens presented by MHC (human ortholog HLA) molecules through the T cell receptor (TCR) in a highly sensitive and specific manner. While the primary function of T cells is to mediate protective immune responses to foreign antigens presented by self-MHC, T cells respond robustly to antigenic differences in allogeneic tissues. T cell responses to alloantigens can be described as either direct or indirect alloreactivity. In alloreactivity, the T cell responds through highly specific recognition of both the presented peptide and the MHC molecule. The robust oligoclonal response of T cells to allogeneic stimulation reflects the large number of potentially stimulatory alloantigens present in allogeneic tissues. While the breadth of alloreactive T cell responses is an important factor in initiating and mediating the pathology associated with biologically-relevant alloreactive responses such as graft versus host disease and allograft rejection, it can preclude analysis of T cell responses to allogeneic ligands. To this end, this protocol describes a method for generating alloreactive T cells from naive human peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) that respond to known peptide-MHC (pMHC) alloantigens. The protocol applies pMHC multimer labeling, magnetic bead enrichment and flow cytometry to single cell in vitro culture methods for the generation of alloantigen-specific T cell clones. This enables studies of the biochemistry and function of T cells responding to allogeneic stimulation.

Introduction

T lymphocytes are critical components of the adaptive immune system. T cells are responsible for not only directly mediating protective immune responses to pathogens through a variety of effector mechanisms, but also actively maintaining immunological self-tolerance and directing the responses of other cells in the immune system. These functions are directed through a number of integrated signals, including T cell receptor (TCR) ligation, cytokines and chemokines, and metabolites¹. Of these signals, the TCR is of particular importance, as it provides the characteristic specificity that defines the T cell’s role in adaptive immunity. A TCR interacts wi....

Protocol

NOTE: This protocol requires use of peripheral blood samples from human volunteers. All research with human subjects should be reviewed and approved by a Human Studies Institutional Review Board to ensure compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

1. Isolation of T cells from Whole Blood

1. Prior to starting, warm the density gradient medium to room temperature. Aliquot 4 ml of density gradient medium into 2-4 sterile 15 ml conical centrifuge tubes (1 tube will be used for each 10 ml total volume of diluted blood).
2. Obtain 10-20 ml of blood in 1-2....

Results

This protocol describes the generation of clonal human T cell cultures with defined alloantigen specificity via a magnetic bead enrichment and single-cell flow cytometry sorting strategy. Figure 1 provides an outline of the process.

Discussion

T cell alloreactivity is a long-studied and clinically-relevant phenomenon. The robust proliferative and effector responses of T cells to allogeneic stimulation has enabled extensive analyses of human T cell responses in vitro through relatively straightforward mixed lymphocyte reactions of peripheral blood T cells against inactivated allogeneic cells. However, these primary alloreactive T cell responses are oligoclonal, comprised of a large number of individual T cells responding to specific alloantigens. This .......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Sodium heparin venous blood collection tube 16 x 100 mm	Becton, Dickenson and Company	366480
Lymphoprep	Stemcell Technologies	7801
Rosette Sep Human T Cell Enrichment Kit	Stemcell Technologies	15061
Dulbecco's PBS, 1x without Ca or Mg	Corning	21-031-CV
Bovine serum albumin	Sigma-Aldrich	A7906
EDTA	Sigma-Aldrich	E6635
Fluorophore-labeled pMHC tetramer	NIH Tetramer Facility	NA
EasySep Biotin Selection Kit	Stemcell Technologies	18553
EasySep Selection magnet	Stemcell Technologies	18000
TruStain FcX Human Fc blocking solution	Biolegend	422301
Anti-CD5 PE-Cy7 (clone UCHT2)	Biolegend	300621
Anti-CD14 FITC (clone HCD14)	Biolegend	325603
Anti-CD19 FITC (clone HIB19)	Biolegend	302205
Iscove's DMEM, without b-ME or L-glutamine	Corning	15-016-CV
HEPES	Corning	25-060-CI
b-Mercaptoethanol	Life Technologies	21985-023
Glutamax	Life Technologies	35050061
Gentamicin sulfate (50 mg/ml)	Omega Scientific	GT-50
Human AB serum, male donor	Omega Scientific	HS-30
Recombinant human IL-2	Peprotech	AF 200-02
Dynabeads Human T-Activator CD3/CD28	Life Technologies	11131D
Media
Cell sorting buffer
PBS, pH 7.4	1 L
BSA	10 g
EDTA (0.5 M)	2 ml
Human T Cell Culture Medium
Iscove's DMEM	351.6 ml
Heat-inactivated human AB serum	40 ml
HEPES (1 M)	4 ml
Glutamax (100x)	4 ml
Gentamicin (50 mg/ml)	0.4 ml
b-mercaptoethanol (14.3 M)	1.4 ml
Recombinant human IL-2 (1 mg/ml)	1 ml