FORBIMED

RESEARCH COLLABORATION - BIOMARKERS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INFECTIOUS DISEASES

D7 - Development of a Koff-Rate Assay for Diagnostic Application

T cells with high avidity for their cognate ligand are believed to be most effective in clearing viral infections or inducing tumor regression. Thereby, an important part of the avidity seems to be hard wired within the structure of the T cell receptor (TCR). Based on the Streptamer technology, we developed a novel assay, where the dissociation of monomeric Peptide-MHC (pMHC) molecules bound to surface expressed TCRs can be monitored by realtime microscopy. This allows measurement of koff-rates, an important component of structural avidity.
With this assay, we could show a correlation between the koff-rate and the protectivity of T cells. This highlights the meaning of the koff-rate assay for the determination of the quality of existing or induced T cell responses. For diagnostic application, however, we now have to adapt the principle of the koff-rate assay to a system that is user friendly and allows high throughput of sample analysis.

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