Method for detecting antigen specific or mitogen-activated T cells

摘要

The present invention comprises a method for the quantitative or qualitative detection of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells and/or CD8+ T cells in a subject, said method comprising quantitatively or qualitatively detecting the expression of cell surface marker CD25 and one or more of cell surface markers CD134 and CD137 in a suitable lymphocyte-containing sample from said subject in response to exposure to an antigen. A method for determining the immunocompetence of a subject and a method for isolating antigen-specific CD4+ and/or CD8+ T cells is also disclosed.