Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction

The MLR is based on an allogeneic immune reaction that occurs when lymphocytes of two different donors are co-cultured, resulting in T cell activation. As a read-out for this activation, proliferation and/or cytokine production is analyzed several days after start of culture. The effects of your immunomodulatory drug on T cell activation induced by antigen presenting cells can be determined with an MLR.

Depending on your research question, the MLRs can be performed with total PBMCs, in which case T cells from both donors will be activated (two-way MLR). Alternatively, the assay can be performed with monocyte-derived dendritic cells from Donor A in combination with isolated T cells from Donor B (one-way MLR). Furthermore, we can either repeatedly use the same donor pairs, or test numerous different donor pairs.

Read-out:

• Cellular phenotyping
• Cytokine analysis: ELISA, CBA, FC
• Proliferation assay