Oxford Immunotec: Spotting T cells

Assessing and quantifying immune responses can be tedious, and to date there has not been a simple, accurate techno-logy that can be applied to diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis of multiple diseases. Oxford Immunotec Ltd. claims its T Spot technology platform can do just that.

T Spot measures the response of a patient's white blood cells to a given antigen. The cells are placed onto a conventional 96-well microplate and then challenged with antigen fragments of a disease agent. If the cells were previously exposed to the antigen, they react by releasing gamma interferon, which in turn is detected by an antibody and a color reaction. The reaction is performed overnight...