Patent ID: 8703484
Filing Date: 2014-04-22
Classification: C07K,G01N

Abstract:
1. A method for detecting an antigen-specific hematopoietic cell in a biological sample, which method comprises: (a) providing a biological sample comprising a hematopoietic cell of a first species; (b) providing a target cell of a second species, wherein the second species is different from the first species, wherein the second species is a macaque species, wherein the target cell comprises an antigen and wherein previous determination of the target cell MHC genotype is not required; (c) contacting the target cell with the biological sample; and (d) detecting an immune activation marker in the sample in an MHC-non-restricted manner, wherein an increase in expression of the immune activation marker in the sample, relative to a control, is an indication that the sample comprises an antigen-specific hematopoietic cell; wherein a cell identical to the target cell but lacking the antigen does not stimulate expression of the immune activation marker in hematopoietic cells of the first species, and wherein the immune activation marker is selected from the group consisting of B7.1, B7.2, CD 152 (CTLA-4), CD28, CD40, CD40 ligand (CD40L), and CD69.