Description
Background information
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a single-stranded, enveloped RNA virus. After primary exposure to the virus most individuals develop a chronic viral hepatitis. HCV is the major cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The development of an immunological response to HCV is important for clearance of the acute infection and the long-term outcome of the pathogenesis in persistent infections.
Downstream applications
HCV1a NS4 – research grade has been specifically developed for efficient in vitro stimulation of HCV1a NS4–specific T cells. Peptides of 15 amino acids in length and 11 amino acids overlap represent an optimized solution for stimulating both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in various applications, including:
- Detection and analysis of HCV1a NS4–specific effector/memory T cells in PBMCs by MACS® Cytokine Secretion Assays, intracellular cytokine staining, or other technologies.
- Isolation of viable HCV1a NS4–specific CD4+ T cells with the CD154 MicroBead Kit, or of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells using the CD137 MicroBead Kit or MACS Cytokine Secretion Assay – Cell Enrichment and Detection Kits. Subsequently, cells can be expanded for generation of T cell lines.
- Generation of HCV1a NS4–specific effector/memory T cells from naive T cell populations.
- Pulsing of antigen-presenting cells.
Overview
PepTivator® HCV1a NS4 is a pool of lyophilized peptides, consisting mainly of 15-mer sequences with 11 amino acids overlap, covering the complete sequence of the HCV1a NS4 protein (UniProt ID: P26664 [aa 1658–1972]).
In vitro stimulation of antigen-specific T cells with PepTivator Peptide Pools causes the secretion of effector cytokines and the up-regulation of activation markers, which then allow the detection and isolation of antigen-specific T cells.
