Oxford UK, 6 November 2006 - ProImmune has launched MHC Class II
Ultimers™, an advanced, affordable tool for evaluating and characterizing
CD4+ single antigen-specific T cells, enabling in-depth evaluation of the T
cell immune response in a wide range of disease areas including, autoimmune
disease, cancer and infectious diseases.
Class II Ultimers™, the result of
several years of intensive research at ProImmune, are the next generation of
MHC Class II multimers, with a superior peptide-linked planar design to
improve the interaction between the MHC-peptide complexes and the T cell
receptors, for consistent, reliable detection of CD4+ single
antigen-specific T cells.
Traditional functional assays, such as proliferation or cytokine secretion,
for studying antigen-specific CD4+ T cells are not truly antigen-specific.
The MHC tetramer, a more recently available tool, has been difficult to
reproduce with a high level of consistency, which has meant that these
reagents have not been widely accessible. The detection of CD4+ T cells
using MHC tetramers has also been difficult due to the low frequency of
these T cells (down to 1 in 100,000 white blood cells) and the low avidity
of binding between the MHC-peptide binding complex and the T cell receptor.
The peptide-linked planar design of Class II Ultimers™ addresses these
issues by improving reproducibility and sensitivity of CD4+ T cell
detection. The Class II Ultimer™ fluorescent detection label has been
optimized to maximize the signal to noise ratio of this assay.
ProImmune provides Class II Ultimers™ with responsive, expert technical
support and customer service. Contrary to ordering Class II tetramers from
in-house or non-commercial facilities, customers do not need to apply and
wait for reagents or supply any peptide. Class II Ultimers™ are delivered
quickly with stringent quality control and low batch-to-batch variability.
The newly launched Class II Ultimers™ complement ProImmune’s existing Pro5®
Class I Pentamer technology, which was introduced in 2003, for detecting
antigen-specific CD8+ T cells.
Commenting on the launch of Class II Ultimers™, Dr. Nikolai Schwabe, CEO of
ProImmune said: “The launch of our new Class II Ultimers™ underlines our
strategy to provide innovative, affordable solutions to improve analysis of
the T cell immune response. The combined use of Class II Ultimers™ with our
Pro5® Class I Pentamer technology will enable investigators to gain a more
complete understanding of the specificity of immune responses, and aid the
development of novel immunotherapies to combat many life threatening
diseases.”
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors:
About ProImmune
www.proimmune.com
ProImmune Ltd is a private biotechnology company with its headquarters in
Oxford, UK, that specialises in providing quality research reagents for
monitoring the condition of the immune system. ProImmune has a wide range of
customers from leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well
as clinical and academic research institutes throughout the world. The
Company, founded in November 1999, has secured R&D funding from several DTI
Smart, EUREKA and EU Framework VI project grants and has been profitable
since its inception. ProImmune owns a portfolio of international patents and
patent applications protecting its core products and technologies. The
Company also has offices in the USA.
For more information, please contact:
At the Company:
Dr Nikolai Schwabe, CEO, ProImmune
Tel: +44 (0)870 042 7279
Email: nschwabe@proimmune.com
Media enquiries:
Lorna Watson, Account Director, Northbank Communications
Tel: +44 (0)20 3008 7559
Email: l.watson@northbankcommunications.com
